The Administration Hoped New Mask Guidance Would Stoke Vaccinations, It Doesn't Seem To Have Worked
Washington Post, July 22, 2021. - Ed.
When the Biden administration suddenly lifted its mask recommendation in the middle of May, there was a particular outcome it was hoping might follow: Americans tired of wearing masks but who hadn’t yet gotten vaccinated might be spurred to get a shot. With vaccination rates waning, it seemed like a useful prod for those who were hesitant. It doesn’t seem to have had much effect. With the administration now engaged in conversations centered on potentially reintroducing mask-wearing recommendations as cases rise, there’s a lesson to be learned from what happened 2 months ago.
There is a pattern that has emerged in vaccinations since spring. States that voted for Biden have consistently seen higher rates of vaccination than states that voted for Trump. That’s true of the percentage of each state’s population that’s fully vaccinated, but it’s more true of the percent of the population in each state that has received at least one dose of a vaccine. (SEE Graphs at Link).
You’ll notice that the divide between red states & blue states appeared to emerge at about the point that the FDA announced a temporary pause in the distribution of shots from Johnson & Johnson. That was also the point at which states were beginning to reach saturation on the oldest vaccine recipients, so it’s likely that the shift had multiple causes. But notice, too, that the lifting of the mask mandate (which wasn’t really a mandate, as such, but for the sake of brevity ...) doesn’t appear to have shifted vaccinations back up very much, if at all.
.. This is also the problem with reintroducing rules promoting mask-wearing. Such a reversion would be unpopular and is unlikely to be embraced by legislators with significant vaccine-hostile constituencies. Americans who are indifferent to the risk posed by the virus would be unlikely to embrace such a reintroduction. Those who would approve of new mask rules have probably already been vaccinated. Partisanship is not the only factor in why many Americans haven’t been vaccinated. But it is a factor, and it’s one that obviously overlaps with the politics at play. For President Biden, the best hope is that the new increase in cases stalls and that the number of deaths it prompts is lessened by the vaccines themselves...
More,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/22/administration-hoped-its-new-mask-rule-would-stoke-vaccinations-it-doesnt-seem-have-worked/