The White House press corps and the mainstream media got one last chance to fawn over White House Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci last week, as we reported, with the audience featuring Fauci intoning a variant of his warning over the past two years about the need to get COVID shots/boosters:
“So my message, and my final message, maybe the final message I give you from this podium, is that, please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible.”
But now, there’s a new COVID czar in town – White House COVID Response Coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha – and on Sunday’s edition of ABC News’ “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz, there was no end in sight to the fearmongering Fauci was best known for. The show even appeared to coin a scary, new term, “tripledemic/triple-demic threat,” to make sure you know how serious things could get as we draw nearer to Christmastime. Raddatz introduced Dr. Jha while referring to “the triple threat of COVID, flu and RSV [an often mild, respiratory illness] this holiday season.”
Raddatz played the lapdog role well, setting up the urgency of people getting their shots-and bemoaning that they just aren’t doing what the government wants them to do:
“The administration is launching a new campaign urging people to get those flu shots, get those COVID boosters. But I think only about 11 percent have gotten the booster so far, and maybe 42 million the flu shot. We’ve talked about this so many times. People aren’t listening. What do you do?”
Here was Jha’s “solution” — step one is shaming, like we’ve heard time and time again from this White House:
“It’s been obviously a long two and a half years for Americans and we understand that people want to move on,” White House's Dr. Ashish Jha tells @MarthaRaddatz.
“The good news is people can move on if they keep their immunity up to date.” https://t.co/Ct7A49DBCt pic.twitter.com/XQo8Q7BIYm
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 27, 2022
“So, look, it’s been obviously a long two and a half years for Americans. And we understand that, you know, people want to move on. The good news is, people can move on if they keep their immunity up to date.”
And step two? More “trusted voices” need to spread the message. Is that because people have learned not to trust what this administration has to say?
“We know these vaccines, first of all, are incredibly effective. They’re very safe. So that’s point number one. I think point number two is we know people get vaccinated when they hear it from trusted voices. So our strategy is get out into the community, talk to religious leaders, talk to civil society leaders, community-based organizations. Have them get out into the community and talk to people.”
“I really believe, if we do that and we continue pursuing that strategy, more and more Americans are going to get vaccinated.”
The White House adviser also couldn’t provide a good answer, when the host pressed him on what they’re doing to fix the scarcity of amoxicillin — a major worry for families right now:
“We have broader supply chain issues with our medications that we’ve had for decades,” Dr. Ashish Jha tells @MarthaRaddatz of amoxicillin and ibuprofen shortages.
“We’ve made a lot of strides in this administration, but our work here is not done.” https://t.co/KmgmXGFGSl pic.twitter.com/gA3h2cgWtX
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 27, 2022
“Yes, this is — you know, we have — we have some broader supply chain issues with our medications that we’ve had for decades. I have seen this as a practicing clinician. I often when I walk into the hospital find some normal medicine that I’m used to using not available.”
“We have got to continue working on that. We’ve made a lot of strides in this administration but our work here is not done. So we have got to continue making sure that these medicines are available.”
“I will tell you, the good news is, plenty of vaccines for flu and COVID, plenty of treatments for flu and COVID, those are still out there….”
Nifty how everything comes back to that, huh?
Now, what about what’s happening in China? My colleague Nick Arama wrote about the rising intensity of protests there. But Jha could barely muster mild criticism of the CCP’s iron fist behavior towards its citizens in his non-answer to Raddatz, in which he called their “zero COVID” lockdown measures unrealistic:
China’s “zero COVID strategy” is not realistic, Dr. Ashish Jha tells @MarthaRaddatz.
“I would recommend that they pursue the strategy of making sure everybody gets vaccinated…Lockdowns and zero COVID is going to very difficult to sustain.” https://t.co/g70TLsooRP pic.twitter.com/lV83hU4Y2z
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 27, 2022
“Yes, so China has pursued a zero COVID strategy, obviously that is not our strategy. We don’t think that’s realistic, certainly not realistic for the American people.”
….
“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for China to be able to contain this through their zero COVID strategy.”
“I would recommend that they pursue the strategy making sure everybody gets vaccinated, particularly their elderly. That I think is the path out of this virus. Lockdowns and zero COVID is going to be very difficult to sustain.”
So, he doesn’t have an answer there. But what does Jha have an instant answer about? More and more COVID shots- and the Democrats’ one-size-fits-all strategy on individuals making choices about their own lives. You get the familiar refrain of: “Americans and their families can live like they want to, if you get the fancy, new COVID booster.” New boss, same as the old boss.
