Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene cast aside concerns about more Americans dying from COVID-19 by noting death is inevitable, drawing rebukes from critics, including some fellow Republicans.
“Everyone needs to get back down to common sense and remember that you know, we’re human. We can’t live forever,” Mrs. Greene, Georgia Republican, said Thursday.
“We are going to catch all kinds of diseases and illnesses and other viruses, and we get hurt sometimes. So I’m all for, let’s be rational with this, let’s be careful, let’s be cautious, and let’s not turn into an authoritarian regime that forces shots in arms of people that don’t want it,” Mrs. Greene told Real America’s Voice.
Mrs. Greene, a first-year congresswoman elected in November, has been highly critical of scientifically proven ways to combat the coronavirus, such as mandated face coverings and preventive vaccines.
COVID-19, the infectious respiratory disease the coronavirus causes, is capable of causing serious illness or death, while three vaccines being given in the U.S. have proven effective against both.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican often critical of Mrs. Greene, reacted to her latest remarks on Twitter by saying that his GOP colleague “should quit referring to herself as ’pro-life’ now.”
The Republican Accountability Project, a political initiative formed by Republicans opposed to former President Trump, who Mrs. Greene proudly supports, said on Twitter that her remarks were “disgusting.”
Bill Kristol, a conservative writer and Trump critic involved with the project, weighed in from his own Twitter account, as well. “New Republican slogan for 2022: “We can’t live forever,” he tweeted.
U.S. regulators quickly approved the three vaccines for emergency use. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said full approval may be imminent, at which point he predicts shots will become mandated at the local level.
Mrs. Greene denied both the efficacy of the vaccines and the nationwide spike in coronavirus-related hospitalizations during the same interview before reminding Americans of their mortality.
“Yes, the waiting rooms get full. But guess what? The waiting rooms are full of all kinds of things, not just COVID,” Mrs. Greene, a former gym owner, said during the interview.
“So while the news tries to tell us the hospitals are slammed packed with COVID, that’s just not the case,” Mrs. Greene said.
Hospitals in some parts of the U.S. have reported that they are being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, straining doctors and intensive care units and their ability to accommodate people needing medical help.
As of Thursday, the nationwide seven-day average of COVID-19-related hospital admissions had increased 31% over the week before, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.
“We continue to see cases, hospitalizations and deaths increase across the country,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House press briefing about the Biden administration’s pandemic response.
“By far, those at highest risk remain people who have not yet been vaccinated,” she added.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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