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The delta variant is the pandemic issue of the moment, and the liberal media has been publishing out-of-context information about the new strain, generating confusion and fear among Americans.
For example, on July 28, The Washington Post published the following tweet: “Vaccinated people made up three-quarters of those infected in a massive COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts, a landmark CDC study finds.”
However, the title of the WaPo article itself clarifies that “few people needed hospitalization”; but the media outlet avoided making this clarification in the tweet, so Ben Wakana of the White House COVID-19 response team decided to chastise the media outlet via Twitter.
“Completely irresponsible,” Wakana said of the Washington Post‘s tweet. “3 days ago the CDC made clear that vaccinated individuals represent a VERY SMALL amount of transmission occurring around the country. Virtually all hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among the unvaccinated. Unreal to not put that in context.”
Likewise, The New York Times posted a tweet that served to cause alarm: “Breaking News: The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal C.D.C. report said.”
Wakana also responded to this message, writing in caps: “VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.”
Strong reactions against liberal media
The White House official’s tweets are a sign that the media is flawed in its coverage of the consequences and effects of the delta variant. “The rate of reported breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated people is well below 1%,” reads a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis tweeted by Wakana on Aug. 2.
Basically, what Wakana wants to convey is that, despite the alarmism regarding the delta variant in the liberal media, vaccines are indeed working to address COVID-19, reducing the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
On the delta variant and possible new variants, renowned virologist Angela Rasmussen explained that new variants of Wuhan coronavirus are unlikely to “escape vaccine-induced immunity.” She also insisted that, although the virus has a significant capacity for development, so does the human immune system and that the main concern should be to vaccinate the majority of the population.
Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón is a journalist at El American specializing in the areas of American politics and media analysis // Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón es periodista de El American especializado en las áreas de política americana y análisis de medios de comunicación.
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