Critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay is the first person to have received the first dose of the COVID19 vaccine in New York. We can admit to being very pleasantly surprised by this development, given its unprecedented nature.
But we never suggested that Donald Trump was promising the impossible back when he said we’d have a vaccine by the end of this year. Unfortunately many of our media betters can’t say the same.
.@DrewHolden360 I think it's ? time https://t.co/KwKS1yS4HZ
— LB (@beyondreasdoubt) December 14, 2020
We look forward to Drew Holden’s take on this. In the meantime, though, other tweeters have been collecting some of our firefighters’ greatest hits concerning the vaccine. Tweeter @beyondreasdoubt has collected quite a few so far.
PolitiFact:
Is the U.S. "very close to a vaccine" for the coronavirus, as President Trump said during tonight's coronavirus briefing?
Public health experts say it could take a year and a half to roll out. https://t.co/ROwjFqp8zB pic.twitter.com/zer1XdVSOQ
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) April 23, 2020
PBS NewsHour’s Yamiche Alcindor:
President Trump just now at the WH on a coronavirus vaccine: “We’re looking to get it by the end of the year if we can….Moving on at record, record, record."
Note: Experts and officials say that is likely faster than what is possible.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 15, 2020
MSNBC:
.@IrwinRedlenerMD says President Trump's claim that a coronavirus vaccine could come this year "is preposterous" and misleading "the American people about what's
possible and not possible."https://t.co/NUVSBqZu12— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 17, 2020
.@IrwinRedlenerMD says Trump's claim there will be a #coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year is "preposterous."
Learn more: https://t.co/mOb9hhEyvr#11thHour pic.twitter.com/c2q66cNfuI
— 11th Hour (@11thHour) May 16, 2020
Vox’s Aaron Rupar:
Trump is now promising that the coronavirus vaccine will be available in "a couple of weeks," which is the surest indication yet that we're not close pic.twitter.com/mGftl9bddx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 2, 2020
Tweeter @Richard_Harambe has been collecting tweets as well.
DailyKos’ Jennifer Hayden:
By the end of the year means after the election, so he's trying to promise something to get him re-elected, even though all experts I've heard from say even fast track vaccines take 18 months https://t.co/E7svz13uHo
— Jennifer Hayden (@Scout_Finch) May 15, 2020
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
Washington Post national correspondent Annie Gowan:
With the vaccine thing we are “very close” @realDonaldTrump says. Experts say 18 months at the earliest
— Annie Gowen (@anniegowen) March 27, 2020
NPR:
President Trump compared the effort to accelerate the development of a coronavirus vaccine by January 2021 to the Manhattan Project — saying, "That means big and it means fast."
Experts have noted that a timeline of even 12-18 months is optimistic. https://t.co/UzDvogZ3MK
— NPR (@NPR) May 15, 2020
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins:
Rick Bright casts doubt on a vaccine being ready in 12-18 months. Experts have said that's if everything goes right, and Bright says, "We’ve never seen everything go perfectly." "I still think 12-18 months is an aggressive schedule and it’s going to take longer."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 14, 2020
Bloomberg:
No one in Trump‘a own government — at least those leading Operation Warp Speed, whom I interviewed — believes that a safe, properly tested coronavirus vaccine will be ready by the end of the year. Amazingly irresponsible for Trump to be touting this in the midst of this crisis.
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) August 28, 2020
A coronavirus vaccine in 18 months? Experts urge reality check https://t.co/2pJHQ9Uuif via @JamesPaton14 pic.twitter.com/y9sUcbwxtX
— Stuart Wallace (@StuartLWallace) March 31, 2020
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
CBS News:
The president said today he that he wants the nation to return to normal, with or without a vaccine. Still, he says a vaccine will be ready by the end of the year – a timeline experts say is unlikely. @PaulaReidCBS reports pic.twitter.com/EsClFtt8NC
— Norah O'Donnell ?? (@NorahODonnell) May 15, 2020
fake news https://t.co/XeG9TW04kT
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
President Donald Trump expressed his hope that a vaccine would be in place before the end of the year. But is it possible when experts have warned that it would likely take 12 to 18 months? We´ll see https://t.co/Z0sxcyjRcZ
— Patricia Janiot (@patriciajaniot) May 15, 2020
it is possible https://t.co/ZzyhIyhlB4
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
And of course the New York Times:
President Trump wants a coronavirus vaccine widely available by the end of the year, even though his public health experts say it will take at least a year to 18 months. https://t.co/THtalv7jW8
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) April 30, 2020
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
recently became *obsessed* with "experts" who say we could have a vaccine in 12 to 18 months. how is that even possible?
i sketched out all the steps here: https://t.co/Y07EgWg2R5 pic.twitter.com/UTSM5LZhnO
— stuart andrew thompson (@stuartathompson) April 30, 2020
any follow up Stuart? https://t.co/29h0ZUmnaz
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) December 14, 2020
We’d love a followup.
— LB (@beyondreasdoubt) December 14, 2020
WHAT???
Trump boasts inanely, "We will produce a vaccine by the end of the year — and maybe even sooner"
Is Trump suggesting he'll pressure the FDA into approving a Covid vaccine in 2019?
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) August 28, 2020
We assume Steven meant “in 2020.” And that’s the nicest thing we can say about that tweet.
Brutal. Maybe the “experts” they cited to try to project doom and gloom should never be taken seriously again? https://t.co/hRcrv0oZyo
— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 14, 2020
Skepticism is warranted in situations like the COVID19 pandemic. No one could have known for sure whether there’d be a vaccine available by the end of the year. But so many in the media treated Trump’s claim with so much more than skepticism. It was as if they didn’t want him to be right. Because they didn’t want him to be right.
Hot take: this sort of skepticism of government promises is good and shouldn’t be mocked. Criticism should be fair, reasonable, and consistent regardless of the party in power. It gives government a chance to beat expectations, and it helps hold the powerful accountable. https://t.co/bH604hO9sT
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) December 14, 2020
The second best form of media is highly ideological criticism – people holding to a set of goals, which may not be reasonable or realistic, but against which they measure events. That serves a dual function of exposing power to criticism and exposing ideas to realism.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) December 14, 2020
The worst kind – the kind we have – is reflexive partisan hackery. We don’t have a liberal media. A liberal media would at least gore the party of the left when it broke with liberal orthodoxy. Instead, we have a partisan media that roots for the Democrats.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) December 14, 2020
Correct.
Contrast “experts urge reality check” with this, from NYT. https://t.co/gXNE9R7chh
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) December 14, 2020
Likewise this piece (and tweet). It’s not “fact-checking” in any meaningful sense of the phrase. An unlikely outcome is not the same as an untruth. https://t.co/IsZm8e53wP
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) December 14, 2020
They’ve let their reflexive desire to dunk on Donald Trump cloud their judgment and cause irreparable damage to their integrity, or what was left of their integrity.
Don't tell me that the media wasn't rooting against Trump to succeed with the vaccine this year and ultimately you and me.
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) December 14, 2020
It’s hard to see it any other way.
***
Related:
NBC News’ ‘fact check’ on the COVID19 vaccine just became ‘the self-own of the year’
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