Amid alarming increases in U.S. coronavirus infections in states and counties where vaccination rates lag, the Biden administration is stepping up efforts to confront misinformation using fact-checkers and blunt statements.
But a report by Politico Monday that stated the Democratic National Committee planned to join in the more aggressive posture by engaging with SMS companies is drawing furious conservative pushback this week.
Wrote the publication Monday: 'Biden allied groups, including the Democratic National Committee, are also planning to engage fact-checkers more aggressively and work with SMS carriers to dispel misinformation about vaccines that is sent over social media and text messages.
President Joe Biden's administration is out of ideas on how to raise the stagnate COVID vaccination rate
The report did not specify how the DNC, an outside party organization, would work with companies that handle text messages.
But the suggestion that the party was somehow involved in the effort to 'dispel misinformation' drew immediate condemnation from conservatives and GOP lawmakers.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who is himself the recipient of administration pushback for his on-air criticism of vaccines, teed off Monday night on the line from the story, which came just as the White House is stressing its intention to keep politics out of the vaccine effort, without growing outbreaks in Missouri and southern states.
Carlson highlighted the line and called it outright government censorship. 'Nothing that questions official regime policy will reach you,' he told viewers. The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any involvement it has in the effort.
'So now the Biden Administration wants to get into people's text messages … to force vaccine compliance and who knows what else,' tweeted Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
Wrote Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.): 'Biden's regime has announced they'll be working with SMS providers to stop vaccine 'misinformation' spread via text messages. This is on the same day the White House said they support local officials who implement mandatory vaccines. No wonder they can't condemn Communism.'
Boebert has been contending with her own issues for her vaccine resistance. The Auschwitz Museum on Monday condemned Boebert's tweet that invoked the Holocuast when she said 'Biden has deployed his Needle Nazis to Mesa County.'
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) tweeted it was an effort to 'force vaccine compliance and who knows what else'
Rep. Lauren Boebert, whose own comparisons of vaccinators to Nazis drew a rebuke Monday, blasted Democrats after the report
The effort comes as an effort that seeks to persuade and entice people into getting life-saving jabs is bumping into limitations, with COVID cases on the rise in states and counties where President Joe Biden's trust and approval ratings are lower than they are nationwide.
Administration scientists have taken pains to stress efforts to 'meet people where they are,' and got behind state-run efforts that used lotteries and other lures for vaccination. But some recent efforts show the imprint of a team accustomed to political battle after the 2020 race against President Trump.
'We are steadfastly committed to keeping politics out of the effort to get every American vaccinated so that we can save lives and help our economy further recover,' White House spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Politico.
'When we see deliberate efforts to spread misinformation, we view that as an impediment to the country's public health and will not shy away from calling that out,' he said.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has become something of a lightning rod after tussles with Trump, called out Fox News, which has given considerable airtime to figures with vaccine skeptics, including prime time host Tucker Carlson. Carlson called the vaccine plan an effort to 'force people to take medicine they don't want or need.'
Said Fauci: 'The big misinterpretation that Fox News or whomever else is saying is that they are essentially envisioning a bunch of federal workers knocking on your door, telling you you've got to do something that you don't want to do,' Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, said in an interview on Sunday.
'That's absolutely not the case, it's trusted messengers who are part of the community doing that — not government officials. So that's where I think the disconnect is.'
Centers for Disease Control head Rochelle Walensky has been warning about the risks of rising COVID cases in states that lag on vaccinations. She said last week: ' Simply put, in areas of low vaccination coverage, cases and hospitalizations are up.'
Resistance to getting a shot in the arm, led by some Republicans, has caused the vaccination rate to flatline despite an all-out effort by the White House to raise it. Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff have been on a nation-wide tour to urge vaccinations.
But administration officials are now looking at the next steps as 91 million people remain unvaccinated and 42 states are seeing an increase in COVID infections in the last week as the Delta variant causes cases to spike.
Officials are running out of ideas for jumpstarting the pace of coronavirus vaccinations, Politico reported.
'We are under no illusions that each person in this stage will take longer to reach,' a senior administration official said. 'The first 180 million were much easier than the next 5 million.'
White House press secretary Jen
