If you want to really get under the skin of CNN's Chris Cillizza then just refer to the Covid-19 vaccines as the "Trump vaccine." He really really dislikes that term. In fact, he told us how much that term irked him on Monday in "What Sarah Sanders gets wrong about the Covid-19 vaccine."
What disturbed him was an op-ed Sanders wrote which was published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on Sunday. What specifically bothered him? Cillizza reveals what he found so disturbing.
Here’s the paragraph I take primary issue with:
“Recent data demonstrates that those Arkansans who are not vaccinated are at significantly greater risk for serious illness from Covid. In fact, 98 percent of Covid patients currently hospitalized in our state and 99 percent of recent Covid deaths were people who were not vaccinated. It’s clear that the Trump vaccine works and is saving lives.”
And this in particular (bolding is mine): “It’s clear that the Trump vaccine works and is saving lives.”
It isn’t the “Trump vaccine.” Or the “Biden vaccine.” Or the “Cillizza vaccine.” It’s just the vaccine, one that – if people get it – will save thousands of lives.
When Sanders refers to the Covid-19 vaccine as being tied somehow to Trump, she’s throwing a bit of red meat to Trump voters (and Trump himself) who believe that the former president isn’t getting enough credit for its development – in record time, no less!
God forbid that Trump get credit for the vaccines being made available in, well, warp speed. Acknowledging that incredible accomplishment is apparently taboo at CNN. Trump didn't make the vaccine himself, but the media whispered quietly before the election that the Trump administration's initiative "appears to have been working with remarkable efficiency."
Here is something else that Sanders wrote that really disturbed Cillizza, even if it doesn't match the CNN headline:
“If President Biden, Vice President Harris, and others on the left truly care about increasing the vaccination rate and saving lives, they should admit they were wrong to cast doubt on Operation Warp Speed and give President Trump and his team the credit they are due for the development of a safe and effective vaccine in record time.”
So what was not factual about the claim by Sanders on the vaccine hesitancy on the part of Biden and Harris, Chris? PolitiFact can tag such a claim as false but that doesn't change the fact that their distrust last year is on record.
