Even as deadlier new variants of the virus that's killed over 600 thousand Americans continue to emerge, right-wing media outlets and even Republican elected officials continue to encourage conspiracy theories and hesitation against the lifesaving vaccines, which have been proven safe and effective.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he's "suspicious" of the effort to vaccinate everyone in America. Far-right Congresswoman and prominent conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has told a range of lies regarding the vaccines, including the absurd claim that they've killed thousands of people. Republican lawmakers have universally decried the Biden administration's effort to enlist volunteers in under-vaccinated communities to go door-to-door with information on how and where to receive a vaccine.
Given the GOP's bulwark against saving countless lives through vaccination, journalists have asked multiple GOP lawmakers whether they've been vaccinated.
Congressman Ronny Jackson—Trump's disgraced onetime Secretary of Veterans Affairs—was the latest to be asked the question, and he quickly changed the subject to Democrats.
Watch below.
Jackson said:
"I think you as a press have a responsibility to ask questions of the Democrats as well. How many of the Democrats are willing to say whether or not they've been vaccinated?"
He then pointed to the Texas state legislators, currently in Washington to deny Republicans in the Texas statehouse a quorum in the ongoing special session. Six of these vaccinated legislators tested positive for the virus. Jackson baselessly suggested they could be lying about their vaccination status.
As for Jackson's question on why the media doesn't ask Democrats about their vaccination status, that's because they already answered this over two months ago.
CNN reported in May:
"Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have a 100% vaccination rate against Covid-19, a CNN survey of Capitol Hill found this week, significantly outpacing Republicans in the House and Senate and illustrating the partisan divide over the pandemic."
Many of these Democratic members of Congress even publicly received the vaccine, such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who livestreamed her vaccination.
People didn't hesitate to point this out to Jackson.
His Democratic colleagues further confirmed this.
What's unclear is why Jackson is so hesitant to answer.
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