White People Are Not Being Pushed to the ‘Back of the Line’ for Covid Vaccines and Therapeutics, As Trump Claimed at Rally
Donald Trump told the crowd at his Arizona rally that White people are being pushed to the “back of the line” for Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics, a claim that relies on a misunderstanding of New York guidelines.
“The left is now rationing life-saving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating, just denigrating white people to determine who lives and who dies,” Trump said at the rally, adding, “You get it based on race. In fact, in New York state, if you’re White, you have to go to the back of the line to get medical help. If you’re White, you go right to the back of the line.”
The former president was basing his claim on a Wall Street Journal op-ed by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira, which took issue with New York state’s recent guidelines regarding the distribution of monoclonal antibodies and oral antivirals such as Paxlovid.
The state’s guidelines are not “race-based,” as Trump alleged during the rally, but based on risk factors, as eligibility to receive oral treatments are authorized for patients who meet certain criteria.
The guidelines, based on data from the CDC, state that race and ethnicity qualify as risk markers for underlying health conditions, largely because certain demographics have had historically limited access to health care and are currently more exposed to the virus due to their occupations.
“Consider race and ethnicity when assessing an individual’s risk,” the policy states. “Impacts of longstanding systemic health and social inequities put Black, Indigenous, and People of Color at increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes and death.”
According to the CDC, American Indians or Alaska Natives have 3.3 times the number of hospitalizations compared to White people, while Black or African Americans are 2.6 times more likely to be hospitalized and Hispanic or Latinos are 2.5 times more likely.
In terms of mortality rates, all three demographics are roughly two times more likely to die from Covid-19.
Other criteria to receive the treatment include age, as one must be 12 years or 18 years and older depending on which therapeutic, weight, past Covid-19 diagnoses, one’s ability to start the treatment within five days of symptom onset, and other medical conditions.
Anyone who falls into one of the above categories can also qualify for the therapeutic and would not have to “go to the back of the line to get medical help,” regardless of their race or ethnicity.
During the Arizona rally, Trump went on to falsely argue that White people do not have access to the Covid-19 vaccine.
“If you’re White, you don’t get the vaccine, or if you’re White, you don’t get therapeutics,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to think this. And nobody wants this, Black people don’t want it, White people don’t want it, nobody wants it.”
White people, of course, have access to the Covid-19 vaccine, and President Joe Biden has made it abundantly clear that he wants as many Americans vaccinated as possible.
“For our country, the choice is simple: get more people vaccinated, or prolong this pandemic and its impact on our country,” the president said in a November statement, in which he maintained the benefits of vaccine requirements.
Biden has further attempted to pass multiple vaccine mandates — the Supreme Court blocking one while upholding another in two separate decisions made last week.
“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the requirement for health care workers will save lives: the lives of patients who seek care in medical facilities, as well as the lives of doctors, nurses, and others who work there. It will cover 10.4 million health care workers at 76,000 medical facilities,” he stated in response to the decision. “We will enforce it.”
Watch above, via Newsmax.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
