{"id":560857,"date":"2021-06-11T12:36:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T16:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=560857"},"modified":"2021-06-11T12:36:44","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T16:36:44","slug":"how-the-media-cherry-picks-the-science-to-ignore-the-vaccination-success-of-republican-led-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-the-media-cherry-picks-the-science-to-ignore-the-vaccination-success-of-republican-led-states\/","title":{"rendered":"How The Media Cherry-Picks \u2018The Science\u2019 To Ignore The Vaccination Success Of Republican-Led States"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-the-media-cherry-picks-the-science-to-ignore-the-vaccination-success-of-republican-led-states%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=560857&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1264127477-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Earlier this week, NPR published an analysis of vaccination rates across the country, titled \u201cThere\u2019s A Stark Red-Blue Divide When It Comes To States\u2019 Vaccination Rates.\u201d However, like so many other examples of political insights rooted in \u201cthe science,\u201d the data was carefully curated to achieve the desired result: Trump bad, Biden good.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Domenico Montanaro <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/06\/09\/1004430257\/theres-a-stark-red-blue-divide-when-it-comes-to-states-vaccination-rates?utm_medium=social&#038;utm_source=twitter.com&#038;utm_campaign=npr&#038;utm_term=nprnews\">wrote<\/a> that \u201csurveys have shown Trump supporters are the least likely to say they have been vaccinated or plan to be,\u201d and that \u201cThe top 22 states (including D.C.) with the highest adult vaccination rates all went to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.\u201d Meanwhile, \u201cSome of the least vaccinated states are the most pro-Trump.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Accompanying these claims was a deliberately misleading graph, which showed \u201cblue states\u201d as the most vaccinated, with \u201cred states\u201d as the least vaccinated, with a handful of exceptions. However, past the 65% vaccinated mark, every state was blue.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"10.595317725753\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There&#8217;s a major political divide in the COVID-19 vaccination push.<\/p>\n<p>All the states with the highest adult vaccination rates were won by President Biden in 2020 \u2014 and Trump supporters are the least likely to say they&#8217;ve been vaccinated or plan to be.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0kWawiIvj6\">https:\/\/t.co\/0kWawiIvj6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NPR (@NPR) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NPR\/status\/1402697029676056585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>If you were to accept these claims and this graph at face value, you would conclude \u2014 as is desired \u2014 that voting for Trump or Biden has an impact on your willingness to get vaccinated. The article therefore also makes the subtle claim that Democrat states like New York and California are \u201cgood,\u201d while Republican states like Florida and Texas are \u201cbad.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, like so much lazy science in pursuit of a political conclusion, this analysis ignores that COVID-19 outcomes vary by age, and with vaccination continuing across the country, what matters is not just that people get vaccinated, but that the <em>right<\/em> <em>people<\/em> get vaccinated <em>first<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And who are the right people? According to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/need-extra-precautions\/older-adults.html\"><span>CDC<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cOlder unvaccinated adults are more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The guidelines add, \u201cOlder adults are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19. Getting very sick means that older adults with COVID-19 might need hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe, or they might even die. The risk increases for people in their 50s and increases in 60s, 70s, and 80s. People 85 and older are the most likely to get very sick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When we take this into account, it\u2019s clear that vaccination should be prioritized in terms of those who are most at risk \u2014 and this is precisely the strategy multiple states have been following, including the \u201cbad Republican\u201d states scorned above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When we adjust the data for those at least 65-years of age who have received at least one vaccine dose, the conclusion changes immediately. According to CDC data for example, Florida \u2014 effectively the nation\u2019s oldest state \u2014 has provided 88.5% of its residents aged 65-years and older with one dose or more. This is more than New York, with 84.1%. Texas, comparatively, has provided 81.3% of its residents aged 65-years and older with one dose or more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s important to acknowledge that some \u201cblue states\u201d have excellent vaccination rates in this age group. Pennsylvania, for example, has provided 99.3% of its residents aged 65-years and older with one dose or more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, the fact that Florida is beating New York in terms of vaccinating those who need it most serves as further proof that \u201cscience\u201d alone isn\u2019t sufficient when it\u2019s used (and abused) to reach a pre-selected conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After all, we can probably presume that NPR didn\u2019t think that \u201cFlorida beats New York\u201d was as catchy a headline?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ighaworth\"><i><span>@ighaworth<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week, NPR published an analysis of vaccination rates across the country, titled \u201cThere\u2019s A Stark Red-Blue Divide When It Comes To States\u2019 Vaccination Rates.\u201d However, like so many &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280025,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1264127477-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"How The Media Cherry-Picks \u2018The Science\u2019 To Ignore The Vaccination Success Of Republican-Led States","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1264127477-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"How The Media Cherry-Picks \u2018The Science\u2019 To Ignore The Vaccination Success Of Republican-Led States","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}