Throughout the pandemic that's killed over 600 thousand Americans and upended daily life in the United States for more than a year, conservative elected officials and media personalities have actively spread disinformation regarding its severity and treatment.
From railing against the use of masks to promoting bogus treatments like hydroxychloroquine, conspiracy theories surrounding the virus have been rampant in the right-wing media sphere.
These delusions have permeated to the lifesaving vaccines against the virus, which are widely available and proven to be safe and effective. Conspiracy theorists have claimed the vaccine is magnetized or microchipped, or even that it's more dangerous than the virus itself.
What's more, the Biden administration's efforts to encourage the public to take the vaccine has been painted as a federal overreach. Far-right provocateurs have compared a volunteer door-to-door vaccine information initiative to historic scourges like the gestapo.
Now, the state representative chairing the New Hampshire House Finance Committee, Ken Weyler, and his GOP colleagues delayed the distribution of $27 million in federal funding for vaccine outreach in the state, citing concerns over "Big Pharma" and claiming it's unnecessary.
Weyler said:
"They want everybody to get the shot. Why? Are they getting paid off by Big Pharma? Is there something in the shot that's going to help them control us? There's lots of things I'm reading that make me very suspicious."
In the same hearing of the consequential vote, Weyler falsely told New Hampshire Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette that he believed the majority of COVID-related hospitalizations were among vaccinated people, citing no sources.
People were disgusted at the development.
My home state never disappoints with the special kind of stupid. They get lost in the shuffle with the Floridas and Texases of the world, but the New Hampshire GOP will sneak up on you with some pure, uncut dumbhttps://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Eric Gendron (@Eric Gendron) 1632487806
\u201cLive free *and* die\u201dhttps://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Seth Blumenthal (@Seth Blumenthal) 1632487207
Sheer stupidity and ignorancehttps://twitter.com/brendannyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Cynthia Rayford (@Cynthia Rayford) 1632486738
Republicans are objectively pro-COVID and are showing their hand: they will not do anything to end this pandemic because it allows them to criticize Biden.https://twitter.com/brendannyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Rob (@Rob) 1632486589
This is the radical, pro-covid faction that has control of the GOP.https://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Jesse Ferguson (@Jesse Ferguson) 1632486516
We are like five minutes from living in a failed statehttps://twitter.com/brendannyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— nick (@nick) 1632486454
They said he was focusing on the wrong targets to fight Big Pharma.
There\u2019s a plethora of reasons to criticize pharma, (see Anthony Bourla\u2019s comments this week), but Republicans choose this nonsense.https://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Sameer Rao (@Sameer Rao) 1632486585
Big pharma controls and owns most of the politicians. https://twitter.com/brendannyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— Vaccine saves lives. \ud83d\udc89 \u263a\ufe0f\u2696\ufe0f\ud83d\udc90\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83e\udd42 (@Vaccine saves lives. \ud83d\udc89 \u263a\ufe0f\u2696\ufe0f\ud83d\udc90\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83e\udd42) 1632487401
Omg\u2026 wait til he hears about who is profiting from monoclonal antibodies. Also he said he already has antibodies from 25y of flu vax\u2026 https://twitter.com/brendannyhan/status/1441378041855315980\u00a0\u2026— 2/3rds-Vaxed LabGeek (@2/3rds-Vaxed LabGeek) 1632487634
It's unclear when the funds will be released.
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