Rep. Ronny Jackson pretends Democratic lawmakers are hiding their vaccination status

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) reacted angrily during a press conference on Thursday morning when a reporter asked whether Republican lawmakers had been vaccinated against COVID-19, accusing the media of being hypocrites for not asking Democrats the same question.

“I think you as the 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?” Jackson said at the press conference held by the GOP Doctors Caucus.

In fact, the media has asked Democratic lawmakers about their vaccination status before.

Back in May, CNN asked every member of Congress whether they’d been vaccinated. The endeavor found that every single Democratic lawmaker — all 219 House Democrats, and all 50 Democratic senators — had been vaccinated.

The number was far lower among Republicans, with the offices of 112 Republicans either refusing to answer CNN’s question or not responding at all. Ultimately, CNN could only confirm that 95 of the 212 GOP House members had been vaccinated at that point.

Some House Republicans have said they are unvaccinated, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who, against guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says he won’t get the jab because he’s already had COVID-19.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise just got vaccinated this week, even though he’s had access to the vaccine for months.

The disparity in vaccination rates between the two parties on Capitol Hill is a microcosm of the vaccination rate in the country.

Polling shows that the vast majority of Democratic voters have been vaccinated. A recent Civiqs survey found that 89% of self-identified Democrats have already been vaccinated, with 4% saying they do not plan to get the vaccine at all.

Just 46% of self-identified Republicans said in that same poll that they have already been vaccinated. And a whopping 44% of Republicans said they don’t plan to get the vaccine.

The news conference on Thursday held by GOP Doctors Caucus had been announced with the intention of convincing those who are resisting the COVID-19 vaccine to get inoculated.

Instead, the Republican House members spent their time blaming China for the virus and demanding an investigation into the “lab leak” theory of the virus’s origins.

And when the GOP lawmakers did talk about getting vaccinated, they still painted it as a personal choice as the death toll from COVID-19 stands at more than 600,000 people in the United States.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.