The Republican Party has once again bowed to its radical fringe regarding reasonable precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. An $858 billion defense-funding bill that passed the House last week contains a stipulation that the Pentagon lift its coronavirus vaccination requirement. House Republicans threatened to stall the bill unless Democrats agreed to the stipulation.
The rationale is as bogus today as it was back when Republicans first raised their opposition to the vaccination mandate in 2021: that it was coercive and the vaccine was not proven safe. The vaccine has, in fact, been proven safe millions of times over. It also has been proven not only to help prevent infection but also to make symptoms less severe among those who do get infected.
That’s apparently not good enough for the MAGA base that House and Senate Republicans continue trying to placate. The coronavirus vaccine, like masks, remains a symbol of political power in Republican minds, as if those who are trying to save lives by encouraging vaccination are part of a vast plot by President Joe Biden that must be defeated.
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