Mika Brzezinski is furious about people who are buying into the Republican death cult, and invited Dr. Peter Hotez on to talk about the effects on children.
"I have people that I know, friends, neighbors, who will not get this vaccine. And who scream that it is not FDA approved. Could you explain when a child goes into a pediatric intensive care unit, as we're seeing growing numbers of that, a child with the delta variant? Because I think this may help, they wouldn't want this for their kids, would they, what those kids go through and who can be with the kids when they're suffering so greatly?" she said.
"More often than not, they're going to be hospitalized alone because of containment procedures," Dr. Hotez said.
"I think the key point here, I don't think a lot of the elected officials in our red states, our southern states realize, is that delta is different. This is not your father's covid, your mother's covid. I think the people advising them are going from the same playbook from last year.
"This is different. Delta is far more transmissible, at least three times more transmissible than the lineage, and as much as chicken pox, one of the most contagious viruses of childhood as we know. So this is going to sweep through populations and that's why that's happening. If your adolescent kid is unvaccinated, you should assume there's a high likelihood that that child is going to get covid. And if we could vaccinate all the adults and adolescents, that has the collateral benefit of protecting the little kids.
"That's why we're not talking about this in Vermont and Massachusetts, because all of the adults and adolescents, practically speaking, are vaccinated and that has huge benefits, halting transmission. We're looking at a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the South. As schools act as an accelerant, you should assume we're going to see pediatric care units across the South overwhelmed and even a possibility of small tent cities of sick adolescents and kids."
(Just imagine kids treated in tents -- during hurricane season.)
"And I don't want to see that happen. I know nobody does. We somehow have to get the word out to parents that this delta is something different. And it is picking off young people like we've never seen. And we haven't even gotten to the long covid discussion around young people and what that means for their long-term cognitive health as well," Dr. Hotez concluded.
Mika wasn't finished, though.
"Just to frame what the doctor said, your child will go into the hospital alone, surrounded by people dressed in bubble wrap who can barely touch them, sticking and poking them with tubes and your child will suffer alone if your child gets the delta," she said.
"If you don't get vaccinated, your child could get the delta variant, and it's happening right now. There are more kids than ever before in pediatric intensive care units in the South. It's happening. Protect your child if you can't protect yourself. If you feel like you for some reason want to be part of the death cult and follow disinformation, that's your choice, but are you going to do that to your child?"
We already know the answer. They absolutely will.
