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ICYMI – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board: “Ron Johnson’s anti-science crusade sets back the drive to vaccinate more people in Wisconsin” |
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“He is the most irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens since the infamous Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950s.”
Milwaukee, Wis. — Yesterday, in a blistering editorial The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board called out Senator Johnson for his reckless and dangerous misinformation campaign about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson’s anti-science crusade sets back the drive to vaccinate more people in Wisconsin
Key Points:
COVID-19 is still killing people in Wisconsin — nearly all of them people who have not been fully vaccinated, state health officials say.
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But instead of encouraging more people to get vaccinated so we can be rid of this plague once and for all, Johnson has chosen to use his taxpayer-financed megaphone to draw attention to a vanishingly small number of people who believe they suffered a serious side effect. And he has continued to cast doubts about science, research, masks and other public health measures while promoting “cures” with no evidence behind them.
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He is the most irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens since the infamous Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950s.
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COVID, meantime, has killed more than 600,000 Americans including more than 7,300 in Wisconsin. More than 1,500 people have died in Wisconsin since Jan. 1 alone.
With dangerous variants of the virus now circulating in Wisconsin, discouraging vaccination is reckless.
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Early in the pandemic, Johnson downplayed the severity of the outbreak, comparing it to the flu and highway deaths as he argued that common-sense public health measures to stop the spread of the illness were excessive.“We don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways,” he said in March 2020. “It’s a risk we accept so we can move about.”
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Johnson used his perch as chairman of a powerful Senate committee to tout unproven therapies for COVID, including the controversial malarial drug hydroxychloroquine. This was months after the Food and Drug Administration revoked an emergency use authorization for the drug after reports of heart complications.
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Johnson also cast doubt that masks helped prevent spread of the disease even though research shows they do, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommended their use.
And Johnson still says he won’t get vaccinated because he had COVID last fall and doesn’t think he needs to get a shot. The CDC says otherwise, noting that health care experts don’t know how long natural immunity lasts.
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Whether or not Johnson believes the nonsense he spews, there is little doubt he seeks to benefit politically from this cynical theater.
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Johnson continues to put his own interests ahead of yours. He continues to put himself first and democracy second.
And he continues to show why he is not fit to be your senator. |
