As the new year approaches, things continue to change while remaining unchanged. For example, everyone’s favorite Washington, D.C. Friends and foes are still at each other’s necks. Peter Doocy of Fox News asked the White House press secretary something she could easily refute on Monday. She did, in fact, disprove. When it came to the once-in-a-century public health problem that his network may be worsening, Doocy had an extraordinarily difficult time grasping it.
To think he’d found an argumentative checkmate, Doocy tried to goose the Biden administration as usual. But he hadn’t realized it until it was too late. Those who have been vaccinated and boostered can still catch COVID, despite the fact that their risks of being hospitalized or even dying are far lower than those who have not been vaccinated.
“I understand that the science says that vaccines prevent death,” Doocy said. Of course, there was more. “But I’m triple-vaxxed, still got COVID. You’re triple-vaxxed, still got COVID. Why is the president still referring to this as a pandemic of the unvaccinated?”
As a result, Psaki did what she always does when Doocy asks her a question: she visibly swallowed her irritation and patiently demonstrated his error. “There is a tremendous difference between that and being unvaccinated,” she explained, then supplied statistics to back up her statements. She then reminded him that her illness resulted in “minimal symptoms.”
“You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die,” Psaki explained to Doocy. “So yes, the impact for people who are unvaccinated is far more dire than for those who are vaccinated.”
This wasn’t just another Doocy-Psaki squabble. This similar issue surfaced on Fox & Friends last week, as Media Matters’ John Whitehouse pointed out on Twitter. Is there anyone who said exactly what Psaki did? Steve Doocy, Doocy’s own father, who was, of course, yelled down by his vaccine skeptic co-hosts. Perhaps his father isn’t getting enough attention.
