OPINION:
Three former presidents and the one the media chose for incoming — Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George Bush and Joe Biden — have come forth to proudly proclaim they’ll take the COVID-19 vaccine in public, for all to see, so all can see there’s nothing to see here, no need to worry.
Well, isn’t that special.
And do the American people get to pick a random physician to administer the shot?
In other words: What are we — stupid?
As if their taxpayer-funded Secret Service protection agents will allow them to enter this world of unknowns, i.e., danger, for the rest of us.
Obama, Clinton, Bush and Biden can’t truly expect the American people to believe they’re going to turn in their political royalty capes for guinea pig coats, and allow a mixture of something-something that’s not be tested for long-term effects to enter their bodies. Puh-leeze. They can virtue signal all they want, but the fact is they’re not going to take the same vaccine that’s going to be sold the rest of the citizenry — the average Joe and Jane American Citizen.
They’re not going to be test subjects.
They’re the elite.
And standing on a stage while the fawning media rolls the camera and cuts to close-up on the needles piercing their arms is not the convincing evidence America needs to see these emerging vaccines are safe.
Long-term testing is. Long-term study that looks years down the line and guarantees no adverse or permanent side effects is the only way to show these shots as safe.
Biden said he’d “be happy” to take the shot for all to see.
“When Dr. [Anthony] Fauci says we have a vaccine that is safe, that’s the moment in which I will stand before the public,” he told CNN.
That followed this, from NPR: “Obama, Bush, Clinton Say They’re Willing To Get Coronavirus Vaccine On Camera.”
From Obama: “I promise you that when it’s been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it. I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science.”
Bush’s spokesperson, Freddy Ford, said this: “First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority population. Then, President Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera.”
Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Urena, chimed in similarly on behalf of her boss.
Bully for them.
Bully for Biden.
But here in America, on doling the medical advice, presidents are the same as janitors are the same as postal workers are the same as businessmen are the same as bowling alley workers — meaning, their opinions are just that, opinions.
On the vaccine — on the unproven, untested for the long-term, unknown called COVID-19 vaccine — the only opinion that matters is the individual’s. No matter how many star-powered politicians line up to say otherwise.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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