We’re all too familiar with the usual rationales of those who forego COVID vaccinations. It’s the God-given right to misappropriate “freedom” and “liberty.” It’s feeling free to choose that which imperils public health. It’s also a wrongful right to keep looking at online quackery and “My Pillowisms” until something validates your position. “American exceptionalism” was never intended to look like this. This is an unheard-of road to herd immunity—with 70 million eligible people in the U.S. who have yet to get a vaccination shot.
Now add scapegoats. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, more than a third of Americans believe immigrants and tourists are a major source of the COVID spread in the U.S. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the go-to infectious disease specialist, provides context and common sense. “If you just look at the data and look at the people who have gotten infected, look at the people who are in the hospital, look at the people who died—this is not driven by immigrants,” he stated.