The biggest surprise of 2021 is that the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us despite the wide availability of free vaccines and booster shots.
Unbelievably, our politics have bifurcated what should be a united response to a health crisis of this magnitude. Instead, there’s a conservative vs. progressive answer to what should be done.
Kansas continues to lag in vaccination rates, at 56% fully vaccinated. That puts us in 28th place. Yes, better than Oklahoma, at 39th, and Missouri, 41st.
More than geography or demographics such as race, income, or level of education, a state’s political leaning is now its greatest determinant as to whether its residents get the vaccine and follow other recommended protocols, according to the Kauffman Family Foundation.
In Kansas, Republicans outnumber Democrats two-to-one.
Of the 27% nationwide who have not been vaccinated, 60% identify as Republicans, 17% as independents and another 17% as Democrats. Of the vaccine holdouts, the majority are younger, less-educated and more conservative. Most say the threat of the pandemic has been overblown and that safeguards are unnecessary and definitely the prerogative of the individual. Of the unvaccinated, only 3% say it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect the health of others.
Such opinions help illustrate the uphill battle the nation faces in overcoming COVID and its ever-developing mutations.
Thanks to the new omicron variant, the number of COVID cases in the U.S. has doubled in the last two weeks.
Just from Monday to Wednesday, Kansas recorded 7,083 new cases. The state’s death toll topped 7,000 on Wednesday.
Having tried every available means to get people vaccinated with only moderate success, President Joe Biden on Tuesday admitted the pandemic will end only when individual states figure it out.
“There is no federal solution,” he said, recognizing how politics is now determining health outcomes.
You can be sure the Kansas Legislature, where Republicans hold veto-proof supermajorities in both the House and Senate, won’t lift a finger.
This past November, lawmakers passed House Bill 2001, allowing employees to take legal recourse against employers who don’t honor their requests to avoid vaccination for either medical or religious reasons. Plus, if they leave their jobs because of a business’s vaccination policy, they can receive unemployment benefits.
If found in violation, employers face fines of up to $50,000 per violation for large employers or $10,000 for smaller ones.
Of note, Rep. Kent Thompson did not participate in the 77-34 vote. A local rancher and cattleman, Thompson said vaccinations make as much sense for humans as they do for his cows. The idea of rewarding those who refused to get vaccines with unemployment benefits also rubbed him the wrong way.
