You can't count anti-Vaxxer and wingnut denialists against the broader goal of nationwide vaccination. The lead should be "Republicans are failing America," not "Biden missed his 70% vaccination mark."
July 6, 2021

Months ago President Biden set a goal for Covid vaccinations. He wanted every government level from Federal to State and local to push toward this goal with competency and diligence.

He hoped to distribute the vaccines to the entire country, and specifically, that by July 4 weekend 70% of the population would be vaccinated.

At this point, news reports say 67% of the population has had at least one shot, so hosts of the Sunday Shows are calling that a target he missed?

Meet the Press:

CHUCK TODD: Despite the nation's recent wide-scale success in vaccinating a lot of Americans, President Biden has fallen short of his goal.

Face The Nation

MARK STRASSMANN: What a difference a year makes? Two-thirds of American adults have had at least one shot of the vaccine. That's shy of President Biden's goal of seventy percent by July fourth. But it is also close enough.

ABC's This Week

MARTHA RADDITZ: ...Fifty-eight percent of adults are now fully vaccinated, and 67 percent have received at least one dose, but that's still shy of President Biden's goal for 70 percent of adults to get at least one shot by July 4, a race that's taking on more urgency as the Delta variant spreads.

So, will that goal ever be met?

Raddatz asked Jeff Zients, White House Covid response coordinator:

The administration clearly has much to be proud of this July 4th, but you did miss that goal, largely because of young people. What was the miscalculation there?

MSNBC and CNN also have made similar claims.

But again, the media can't be bothered to dig even a little deeper to understand that President Biden did NOT miss his target, but the Republican anti-vaxxers did.

In a normal world where every American doesn't want to be infected or infect another person with a deadly virus, they would make sure to get vaccinated.

But in the Republican world of Fox News and QAnon conspiracy theories, reality goes by the board.

In a new poll by the Washington Post and ABC News, President Biden is a 60% approval rating on handling the coronavirus. It should be much higher, but that's still a good mark.

The poll shows that while there is room for growth in vaccinations, going well beyond the 70 percent target could prove difficult. Nine percent of those surveyed say they either definitely or probably will get vaccinated at some point in the future. But nearly 3 in 10 (29 percent) say they are not likely to get vaccinated, including 20 percent saying they will definitely not do so. The 29 percent who say they are not likely to take a vaccine compares with 24 percent who said that in April.

The survey finds that 86 percent of Democrats have received at least one shot of a vaccine, compared with 45 percent of Republicans. Another 7 percent of Democrats say they are likely to do so, compared with 4 percent of Republicans.

38 percent of Republicans overall saying they will definitely not get shots against the virus.

How can you achieve a high mark when Republicans are refusing to take the vaccination?

The lead should be "Republicans are failing America," not "Biden missed his 70% vaccination mark."

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