McConnell Claims to Want to Boost Vaccination Rates by Countering Misinformation

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:35 pm

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he aims to boost vaccination rates across the United States by countering misinformation, per Reuters. This misinformation appears to be most prevalent in Republican-dominated states.

The news comes a day after McConnell blamed President Joe Biden for the stagnant vaccination rates nationwide despite the conservative-led efforts, such as via Fox News programming, that have eroded trust in Covid-19 vaccines.

McConnell claimed that Biden inherited a successful vaccination program from former President Donald Trump, though he did not mention the initial slow progress of the vaccination campaign.

“And after the Biden administration was very eager to claim ownership and spike the football on the vaccination trajectory which they largely inherited from Republican leadership, we’ve now seen vaccination rates in many places plateau on what this White House has been insisting is their watch,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.

This turn toward pessimism is especially stunning and especially sad because President Biden took office with wind at his back,” he added. “Things were set up for a roaring success like no other presidential transition in recent memory thanks in large part to Operation Warp Speed set up by the prior Congress and administration we had multiple safe and effective vaccines that were beginning to circulate widely through the country.”