It would be so nice to be able to disregard and write off the Trump voters who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. The problem, as Frank Luntz told Brooke Baldwin, is that this amounts to about half of his voters — 30-35 million people — which keeps us from achieving herd immunity. "It could become a crisis if we can't move these people along."
Citing the "politicalization and the partisanship of the virus" among these loons, Luntz emphasized the fact that despite their loyalty to the Mar-a-Lago Muffin Man, even his full endorsement of the vaccine wouldn't likely be the most effective way to make to the vaccine-resistant see the light. Instead, Luntz argued, the better approach is to tout the efficacy.
"The flu vaccine is about 60% effective. This covid vaccine is about 95% effective. The public needs to know that," he explained. He also echoed Pres. Biden in his press briefing, suggesting that the ones who have the most impact in convincing people to take the vaccine would be one's own local doctor. "[W]hen it comes from the local doctor, your doctor, that's more believable than any politician, than any government agency, than Dr. Fauci, than anyone. We need the medical profession to participate directly in telling their patients, in telling their community, please, getting the vaccine may bother you for a day. Getting COVID can bother you for a lifetime."
Luntz knows about the impact of the prospect of lifelong illness. Just over a year ago, he suffered a stroke.
"I did it to myself by my eating, my travel, lack of sleep, not taking my medications, I made myself sick and now I have to live with it for a lifetime. Don't make the same mistake," he urged whoever will listen. "If you get COVID: from chronic fatigue to loss of taste to lung issues that will never heal, you don't know. It's a random attack. This virus, it's unclear what it does to you, but it is clear that the virus is far more dangerous than the vaccine. Please don't make the same mistake I made. Take the precautions, get the vaccine," he pled.
It's hard to hear someone say he wishes he'd not learned that lesson the hard way, but hopefully doctors will work hard to convince even Trump voters that the vaccine is safe, and critical to their own health. We all know Trump voters aren't all that concerned with the health of the rest of us.
