There are lots of promotions to encourage Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Free beer, doughnuts, and cash payments have been offered up as bribes, er, incentives to get bodies into clinics for the jab. Will something so simple as a sticker placed on a coffee cup make a difference? How about an unhinged leftist in Hollywood threatening school children to get vaccinated?
McDonald’s is teaming up with the White House and Department of Health and Human Services “We Can Do This” campaign. Later this month, its Time Square billboard will provide information about a government website for people looking to get a vaccination. The fast-food giant will also put stickers on McCafe coffee cups to raise awareness.
The revamped McCafe hot cups and new McDelivery seal stickers will direct customers to vaccines.gov to learn more about how they can find vaccine appointments near them and protect themselves from COVID.
The Biden administration is pointing to some success in growing the number of vaccinated people while still encouraging those who haven’t been vaccinated to do so.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement that more than 150 million people have been vaccinated and millions more are getting vaccinated each day.
“Ending this pandemic requires all of us working together to do our part, including encouraging our friends and family to get vaccinated,” Becerra said. “This effort will help more people make informed decisions about their health and learn about steps they can take to protect themselves and their communities.”
Lots of celebrities and public officials have publicly received COVID-19 vaccinations in order to encourage others. They are attempting to show that they are not asking others to do something that they are not willing to do themselves. See, I didn’t turn into a zombie. It’s safe to get the vaccine. Theatrical gestures have been used heavily during the coronavirus pandemic and continue today. Look at all the fully vaccinated people who are still wearing masks outdoors and among other fully vaccinated people simply to virtue-signal. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are at the top of that list. Joe Biden wore a mask during a Zoom call with other foreign leaders and Kamala kissed her masked husband as though neither were masked up. It’s all ridiculous.
Many celebrities took part in a concert which was a fundraiser for COVID vaccine distribution around the world. Prince Harry and Meghan co-chaired the event. It raised millions of dollars and lots of corporations pledged big bucks to the cause. The concert event was televised and streamed online.
Enter Bette Midler. She has taken a different approach. Midler’s gone straight to issuing threats via social media. It’s fair to say she went too far, though, when she dragged school children into the fray.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) May 9, 2021
Her fans loved her threat to children with peanut allergies. They are as brain-dead as she is, apparently. Not only is the tweet hideously incendiary in today’s atmosphere, it’s not even a remark that passes for comedy. Her tweet isn’t even accurate. Bette Midler’s daughter Sophie is in her mid-thirties and a married woman, not a school child. Also, there is no “Jiffy” peanut butter. There’s Jif and there is Jiffy Pop popcorn but that’s a technicality. The main point is that Midler is so unhinged that she nonchalantly uses a peanut allergy to make a threat in support of vaccinations. Does she not know that school children under the age of 16 are not even eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations? Trials have been underway for younger children but an announcement of emergency authorization approval wasn’t announced until Monday. Midler’s tweet was on Sunday. So far only the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for children. Children under 12 years of age still don’t qualify.
The Food and Drug Administration has expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 12 to 15, meaning access for millions more adolescents. The Pfizer vaccine is so far still the only one approved for use in 16-to-18-year-olds.
The emergency use authorization had been expected. An analysis that included 1,005 vaccine participants in this age group found the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19.
In a press conference Monday night, FDA acting commissioner Janet Woodcock said that the vaccine would be distributed to adolescents in the same regimen and dose as adults.
“This vaccine is just the exact same dose and regimen as what has been given out already, so all those places, those pharmacies, those vaccine centers, all those sites can simply extend down to the younger age group,” Woodcock said.
“The FDA’s expansion of the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age is a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said acting FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “Today’s action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic. Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations.”
The emergency use authorization could particularly benefit students and families when it comes to schools, making it easier for students to return to regular schooling in person by fall if they aren’t now.
Threats, even dumb ones, are not the way to go if your goal is to inspire people to get a vaccination. It just makes the person, in this case, Midler, look ridiculous.
“Get vaccinated or I’m gonna start killing kids with peanut allergies” is definitely a sales pitch https://t.co/soL2Tg6U9g
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) May 9, 2021
Choosy moms choose Jif and there is no FDA approved pediatric coronavirus vax as of today. I’m not certain where you’re going with this meme but wishing death on children is certainly a call for self reflection.
— MajorMomVibes (@ArmyofBlonde) May 9, 2021
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