Biden’s team, for its part, knows that it must contact a Trump base that is hesitant about the vaccine. But it has not yet come to a plan or decided which messengers are best to enlist, according to a person close to Biden. A health policy adviser on the transition said names like Fox News presenter Sean Hannity and Senator Rand Paul have been cast, but overtures remain. Trump and his allies are inconsistent messengers about the coronavirus, downplaying basic medical guidelines and pushing misinformation about treatments, making them difficult partners in a public messaging campaign.
Conversely, Trump’s aides say the president doesn’t want to help Biden. They say the president-elect is deliberately ignoring Trump’s vaccine performance and playing only partisan politics. Biden, they said, should vocally praise Trump for pushing through in record time for what they have called the “Trump vaccine.”
“Biden’s partisan lens is a disservice to the republic at this critical time,” said Bryan Lanza, who worked on the 2016 campaign and remains close to the White House.
It’s just the latest sign of how political polarization is holding back the country from fighting America’s greatest public health crisis in decades, even when political leaders are largely in agreement on what needs to be done. And the stakes are unbelievably high. Unless 70 to 80 percent of the total US population is vaccinated, the country cannot achieve the herd immunity necessary to suppress the virus.
“The best way for that [Trump] if he gets credit for vaccinations, he supports the scientists and the scientific process and makes people trust the vaccine, ”said Dr. Georges Benjamin, Head of the American Public Health Association.
On January 20, Biden will take over the country’s vaccination efforts. He will be immediately tasked with leading one of the logistically most complicated and challenging public health messaging campaigns since the HIV / AIDS crisis and the launch of the polio vaccine. The process includes coordination between local, state and federal governments, a rapid build-up of vaccine storage facilities, and a PR blitz to convince people to voluntarily take the photo.
At the same time, Biden will have to lead a campaign to convince Americans that the vaccine is harmless and that it offers the best chance of eradicating the pandemic. And the Americans to be influenced are disproportionately Republican.
New polls by the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday found significant hesitation about vaccines among several groups, but Republicans were more likely than any other group surveyed – be it race, age group, gender, or occupation – to say they won’t. be vaccinated even if the shots are free and are considered safe.
The poll also found that Republicans had different reasons for opposing vaccination than other hesitant groups. While African Americans expressed concern about the side effects of the vaccine and the speed at which it was developed, a major reason for Republicans was the belief that the risks of Covid-19 are being exaggerated. Vaccine-hesitant Republicans were also much more likely to dismiss advice about wearing a face mask, which would make them more likely to contract and spread the virus.
“Given that basic public health messages about the benefits of mask wearing have not broken through for many of these individuals, new strategies may be needed to engage with them during vaccination efforts,” said the researchers.
One such “new strategy” could be to hire Trump. While the study found Trump to be last among the general public as a trusted vote on the vaccine, he was the second most trusted source of information among Republicans, well ahead of state officials, local health departments and the FDA.
The person close to Biden said the transition team is aware that they need to contact Trump-friendly conservatives who are wary or outright against taking the vaccine. But plans requiring messengers to be recruited “have yet to be fully baked,” the person said. The Biden transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“That is certainly being considered and discussed,” said the person. “Especially how to talk to the more conspiratorial ideological group.”
The person added that Biden’s team has not yet spoken about asking Trump himself to be part of the outreach effort – a high-risk, high-reward gamble.
“It could be a way for Trump to participate in a reconciliation process and secure his legacy as part of the vaccine development, so I wouldn’t dismiss it outright,” the person said. “But not only is he very unpredictable, should the person who has been the most unconstructive to public health really become the messenger of the vaccine?”
Others in Biden’s circle voiced other conservative voices who could be recruited into the effort, including Paul, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky senator and physician, Hannity, one of Trump’s favorite TV presenters, and Trump-boosting radio personality Laura Ingraham.
But the health policy adviser who worked with the Biden transition said that for that reach and that collaboration to be successful, Biden must be willing to give the Trump administration more credit for the record speed of vaccine development aided by Trump’s Operation. Warp Speed.
“The Biden team will have to recognize that, despite everything we’ve criticized on the current administration, part of the reason we have a vaccine is that they acted quickly,” the person said. “Have they diminished their own success with all their other actions since March? Yes. But Operation Warp Speed wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t launched a society-wide approach for this. “
The adviser plans to urge the transition team to “subtly approach” Trump and other leading conservatives, arguing that it is in their best interest to “put the ball in their court and get them to say no.”
Steve Schale, who was in charge of Unite the Country, a super PAC that backed Biden’s candidacy, encouraged the Biden team to be thrifty in any engagement to Trump.
“Joe Biden succeeded in the campaign by not allowing himself to play the role Trump so badly wanted – and that would be his daily sparring partner,” he said. “You can’t rule by responding to Donald Trump every day.”
However, Trump’s team is convinced that Biden will never show the outgoing president this kind of reverence.
“It’s embarrassing to watch partisans turn Biden into a pretzel and try to avoid acknowledging President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” said Lanza, Trump’s 2016 campaign advisor.
In a statement, a White House spokesman pointed to the government’s vaccination summit held last week.
President Trump hosted a three-hour, live-streamed, nationally televised summit on the process of developing, evaluating, approving and distributing the vaccine fairly, which he called a ‘miracle’ for its safety and effectiveness. , ”Said Deputy White House Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern. “Any mixed messages or attacks are coming from the president’s opponents for political ends and are shameful.”
A senior Trump campaign advisor said the vaccine should be called the “ Trump vaccine. ” And a former Trump aide said Trump will not discredit the vaccine, but he has no reason to help Biden. “He continues to take the credit,” said the ex-assistant. ‘He’s a loner. It’s always about ‘me’. “
Indeed, Trump supporters expect the president to make his vaccine development efforts a central element of his burgeoning bid for the White House in 2024.
“Why not?” Lanza said. “Vaccines take years. We did it in a year. This is unprecedented. “
Marc Lotter, a senior Trump campaign advisor, said Americans will remember Trump’s work on the vaccine years after the coronavirus disappeared.
Trump is mother of his own plans to take and promote the vaccine. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was “absolutely open” to making the recording, but he was not making any definitive statements.
“He will get the vaccine when the medical team determines it is best,” she said, adding that Trump is “very confident” in the new drugs.
But aside from a few tweets and events, the president has largely remained out of sight during the vaccine rollout. McEnany defended his absence, saying Trump has worked “ behind the scenes. ” She added that some Trump administration officials would soon be getting the vaccine to try to instill confidence. And the Trump administration is also scrambling for its own $ 250 million information campaign about the vaccine.
So as the vaccine rollout begins, Trump and Biden’s teams seem nowhere near working together on a confidence-building campaign.
The partisan divide was on full display during a call from the White House coronavirus task force on Monday. GOP governors went out of their way to praise the Trump administration and give them all the credit for the vaccine.
“We all owe it to the Trump administration,” gushed Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.), Calling the vaccine a “medical miracle.”
“Everyone in this country has to say that you have all done a great job – that’s all there is to it,” added Gov. Jim Justice (RW.Va.).
Still, the Democratic governors were much more cautious on the call. Gov. Roy Cooper (DN.C.) did his best to thank the “participants in Operation Warp Speed” for creating the vaccine – not Trump.