As delta variant rises, Republican governors urge the hesitant to get vaccinated

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As delta variant rises, Republican governors urge the hesitant to get vaccinated

Mon, 2021-07-05 09:42 — mike kraft

‘We are in a race’: GOP governors implore residents to overcome vaccine hesitancy as delta variant rises GOP governors urged their residents on Sunday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as polling shows that vaccine hesitancy has been driven by Republicans. Amy B Wang, Nick Miroff Washington Post

GOP governors implored their residents on Sunday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as polling shows that vaccine hesitancy has been driven by Republicans and as the virus’s new, more contagious delta variant has caused recent upticks in covid-19 cases in areas with low vaccination rates.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday expressed concern about possible “trouble” ahead for Arkansans if the state did not accelerate its vaccination rate. In Arkansas, about 53 percent of adults have at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with about two-thirds of adults nationally. The state has seen a recent spike in covid cases and hospitalizations, driven mostly by the delta variant.

“The solution is the vaccinations,” Hutchinson said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that while many of the state’s senior citizens have gotten vaccinated, the delta variant was now hitting Arkansas’ younger, unvaccinated adults. “It is a great concern.”

Hutchinson avoided saying whether he would reimpose mask mandates if the state’s numbers did not improve and also stopped short of saying Arkansas was about to experience a third wave of covid cases and deaths. ...

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) had blunter words Sunday when asked about vaccine hesitancy, particularly among young people, despite the incentives states are offering that include lottery prizes and college scholarships.

“The red states probably have a lot of people that are very, very conservative in their thinking and they think, ‘Well, I don’t have to do that.’ But they’re not thinking right,” Justice said on ABC’s “This Week.” The governor has aggressively urged his residents to get vaccinated for months, and West Virginia has been offering everything from college scholarships to free hunting and fishing licenses as incentives. ...

On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah) explained that his state’s lower vaccination rate was partly the result of having the country’s youngest population, adding that adults in Utah are getting vaccinated at the same rate as rest of nation. He called the vaccination gap among Republicans “troubling” and said “hopefully reason will rule.” ...

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