CNN’s Brian Stelter says, “An unvaccinated minority that doesn’t watch the news or trust the news is putting the vaccinated majority at undue risk” and that “There’s no way around that reality”:
An unvaccinated minority that doesn't watch the news or trust the news is putting the vaccinated majority at undue risk. There's no way around that reality https://t.co/FkqUoh5EMW
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 8, 2021
First up, let’s talk about where we are right now as a country in terms of the number of Americans vaccinated. From Stelter’s own newsletter:
And guess what! This is right about where Dr. Anthony Fauci said we should be at the end of the summer back in January of this year:
Dr. Fauci says “we can and should get 70-85% of the people vaccinated by the end of the summer if we do it correctly." pic.twitter.com/QFW7750UbY
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2021
So, where we’re at shouldn’t surprise anyone:
Fortschritt: 75% of U.S. adults have taken at least one dose of #COVID-19 vaccine – #CDC #CoronaVirus #Corona #Delta https://t.co/ttsZGlIctX
— Sandra Navidi (@SandraNavidi) September 7, 2021
And we need to point out that Stelter’s tweet claiming the unvaccinated are putting the vaccinated at “undue risk” contradicts what he reported in his newsletter:
"My vaccination keeps me from getting seriously ill and your refusal to get vaccinated puts me at risk."
I can't imagine why so many people wouldn't trust the news.
— Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) September 8, 2021
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Remember this story we told you about yesterday where the NYT’s David Leonhardt calculated that the actual risk of getting Covid on any given day if you’re vaccinated is, conservatively, only one in 5000?
The New York Times reports the 'real chances of a breakthrough infection' as only 'one in 5000' https://t.co/8JaVbqA2b1
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 7, 2021
Yeah. Stelter included it in his newsletter:
Stelter even agreed with the statement that Leonhardt’s reporting is “tempering the propensity of our business to hype.” And then what does Stelter do? He goes out and hypes the risk to the vaccinated.
Stelter responded to our criticism on Twitter with this graph showing unvaccinated children are at risk in states with low vaccination rates:
THIS is an example of undue risk: https://t.co/lpPxTwYIC6
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 8, 2021
We never argued that the unvaccinated aren’t putting other unvaccinated people at risk and Leonhardt covered this in his NYT piece:
In Britain, many people have become comfortable with the current Covid risks. The vaccines make serious illness rare in adults, and the risks to young children are so low that Britain may never recommend that most receive the vaccine. Letting the virus continue to dominate life, on the other hand, has large costs.
Stelter added:
Risk isn't "all" or "none." You know that. Vaccinated adults are at more risk than they *otherwise would be* because of unvaxxed adults. The virus would circulate less and hurt fewer people if everyone were vaccinated. Thus, even less risk. Again, you know this.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 8, 2021
Did he even read the Leonhardt article? His “bottom line”:
In reality, the risks of getting any version of the virus remain small for the vaccinated, and the risks of getting badly sick remain minuscule.
And:
Delta really has changed the course of the pandemic. It is far more contagious than earlier versions of the virus and calls for precautions that were not necessary a couple of months ago, like wearing masks in some indoor situations.
But even with Delta, the overall risks for the vaccinated remain extremely small. As Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, wrote on Friday, “The messaging over the last month in the U.S. has basically served to terrify the vaccinated and make unvaccinated eligible adults doubt the effectiveness of the vaccines.” Neither of those views is warranted.
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