What’s Important
Science Shows Vaccines Are Working: COVID-19 vaccines are working. There are very few breakthrough cases, and infections and fatalities are plummeting across the country.
Medical Experts Say It’s Time to Get Back to Normal: Given the declining cases and waning threat, medical experts say it’s time to get back to normal.
Democrats Can’t Kick COVID Restrictions: Despite the science showing the vaccine is working and an increasingly vaccinated population, Democrats continue to require restrictive measures, such as no dancing at weddings.
Relief Radar
Vaccines Are Working—It’s Time to Get Back to Normal: Thanks to Operation Warp Speed, Americans have access to several safe and effective vaccines. As more Americans are getting vaccinated, cases are dropping across the country, showing that we can get back to normal.
- Safe and Effective Vaccines: Based on evidence from clinical trials, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 95% effective at preventing COVID-19, Moderna is 94.1% effective, and Johnson & Johnson is 66.3% effective. For comparison, the annual influenza vaccine carries a 40 to 60% efficacy.
- Increasingly Vaccinated Population: To date, 260 million vaccine doses have been given; 114 million Americans are fully vaccinated, which is nearly 35% of the population. Over 50% of adults are fully vaccinated.
- Few Breakthrough Cases: For those who are fully vaccinated, 99.993% of those fully vaccinated did not contract COVID-19. Further, 99.9995% were protected from hospitalization, and 99.99991% were protected from death. This, combined with the current COVID-19 infection rate of 14 per 100,000, means that there is a one in one million chance a fully vaccinated person infects anyone.
- Move Toward Normalcy: Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, recently stated in an op-ed, “Given the now low, manageable and declining COVID threat, let’s stop depriving people of their livelihoods and move toward normalcy.”
Crisis Corner
Despite Increasingly Vaccinated Population, CDC Continues to Advocate for Draconian Restrictions: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, recently said, “[o]ur data from the CDC…suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick, and that’s…in real world data.” So then why does the CDC continue to advocate for restrictions on vaccinated people when it is clearly contrary to science?
Additionally, the CDC has issued absurd summer camp guidance, denying kids the opportunity to get back to normal. We know children are less likely to contract COVID-19 and develop severe symptoms, so why is the CDC telling them they have to wear masks at all times unless they are eating, swimming, having trouble breathing, or are unconscious?
Democrat Hypocrisy Alert
Despite all this good news about the vaccine working, Democrats also can’t seem to kick their pandemic restrictions.
- D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed new restrictions banning dancing at weddings. It appears that not only has Mayor Bowser ignored the science but is also turning D.C. into Footloose.
- At President Biden’s first major address to Congress, the House Chamber was ridiculously spaced and masks were required despite everyone being vaccinated. This prompted many medical experts to question President Biden’s motives.
Biden Blunders
Biden Wears Mask Outside, Even When Alone: Despite the CDC saying vaccinated individuals can go outside without a mask, President Biden continues to wear a mask outside, even when alone. President Biden continues to miss opportunities to show the safety and efficacy of vaccines and prove to the American people that life will return to normal.
This Week in SSOCC
Scalise Slams Biden’s Vaccine Waiver Plan: Republican Whip and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Ranking Member Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) in blasting President Biden’s plan to support a proposal waiving international patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines.
“Operation Warp Speed built on decades of smart policy protecting American innovation. The result was the fastest delivery of a safe and effective vaccine in human history that is saving millions of lives across the globe. President Biden’s cave to progressive special interests threatens all that hard-won progress and will make the next life-saving medical breakthrough much harder to pull off. Stripping innovators of their constitutionally protected patents will undermine innovation, weaken our international competitiveness, and only help communist China, the country that spread the pandemic.”
What They’re Saying
Makary: Don’t buy the fearmongering: The COVID-19 threat is waning (New York Post Opinion)
“As the COVID pandemic wanes, Americans are being fed a distorted perception of the risks by the media and some experts. They continue to fuel fear by repeating speculation that variants will evade vaccines. Don’t buy it. Look at the facts: About 57 percent of adults are vaccinated and approximately half of unvaccinated people have natural immunity from prior infection. That’s why US cases have been plummeting, down 31 percent over the past 18 days … Given the now low, manageable and declining COVID threat, let’s stop depriving people of their livelihoods and move toward normalcy.”
The Liberals Who Can’t Quit Lockdown (The Atlantic)
“Lurking among the jubilant Americans venturing back out to bars and planning their summer-wedding travel is a different group: liberals who aren’t quite ready to let go of pandemic restrictions. For this subset, diligence against COVID-19 remains an expression of political identity – even when that means overestimating the disease’s risks or setting limits far more strict than what public-health guidelines permit. In surveys, Democrats express more worry about the pandemic than Republicans do. People who describe themselves as “very liberal” are distinctly anxious.”
Experts: CDC’s Summer-Camp Rules Are ‘Cruel’ and ‘Irrational’ (New York Magazine)
“An epidemiologist at the CDC, who has felt the agency’s guidelines for schools have been overly strict and who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, asked rhetorically, ‘Putting kids in masks outside all day? Not allowing them to share objects?’ Relatedly, the guidance recommends staggering the use of shared playground equipment. Yet fomite transmission – that is, viral spread through surfaces – outdoors has proved to be almost non-existent. One laboratory study showed that SARS-CoV-2 was inactivated within minutes when in direct sunlight.”
The Centers for Politics and Unions (WSJ Editorial Board)
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has had a bad pandemic, and it’s getting worse. The outfit that is supposed to offer credible, unbiased scientific guidance has been found again to be politicizing virus policy. The New York Post reported over the weekend that the CDC consulted American Federation of Teachers (AFT) chief Randi Weingarten in writing its guidelines for school openings. The chronology of this non-scientific political intervention is even worse than it sounds.”
Corrupt Unions – Not COVID – Locked Kids Out Of School (Daily Caller)
“Unions wanted schools closed indefinitely with a long list of demands, many completely unrelated to COVID-19, to maximize their leverage. In places where they had the most political power, they could and did keep schools closed indefinitely. Research by Corey DeAngelis and Christos Makridis found that ‘school districts in locations with stronger teachers’ unions are less likely to reopen in person,’ and they did ‘not find evidence to suggest that measures of COVID-19 risk are correlated with school reopening decisions.’”
Member Mention
Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasts the CDC for putting unions above families.
Oversight Republicans call out President Biden for breaking his promise to not allow political interference at the CDC.
Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) points out President Biden won’t commit to reopening schools in the fall.
Select Subcommittee Republicans point out the CDC’s summer camp guidance is draconian and virtue signaling.
Republican Whip and Select Subcommittee Ranking Member Steve Scalise (R-La.)emphasizes Biden’s bad jobs report is not surprising given his bad policies.
Representative Pat Fallon (R-Texas) blasts President Biden for trampling on innovators’ rights.
