WASHINGTON – When President Biden urges that as many Americans as possible be vaccinated, many Republicans have deep skepticism about convincing a group that challenges him in particular.
While there has been some resistance to vaccination against the coronavirus from a number of groups, including African Americans and anti-vaccine activists, polls suggest that opinions on the part of the party are severely disrupted.
A third of Republicans in a poll by CBS News said they would not get the vaccine – compared to 10 percent of Democrats – and another 20 percent of Republicans said they weren’t sure. Other surveys have found similar trends.
As the Biden administration prepares television and internet commercials and other efforts to promote vaccination, the challenge for the White House is compounded by the perception of former President Donald J. Trump’s stance on the matter. Although Mr Trump was vaccinated before leaving office and last month urged Conservatives to get vaccinated, many of his supporters appear not to be, and he has not played a prominent role in promoting vaccination.
When asked when asked at the White House on Monday, Mr Biden said Mr Trump’s help in promoting vaccination was less important than bringing trusted community figures on board.
“I have discussed it with my team and they say that what has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA people is what the local doctor, the local preacher, the local people in the church are saying “Biden said, referring to Mr. Trump’s supporters and the campaign slogan” Make America Great Again “. Until everyone is vaccinated, Americans should keep wearing masks, Biden added.
Widespread resistance to vaccination, if not overcome, could prevent the United States from reaching the point where the virus can no longer easily spread and cut back efforts to get the economy going again and the To lead people back to a more normal life. While the problem so far has been access to relatively scarce vaccine supplies, government officials soon anticipate the possibility that supply will exceed demand if many Americans hesitate.
However, many conservative and rural voters continue to point to a variety of concerns. Some conservatives have religious concerns about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which uses fetal cell lines derived from abortion.
Republicans often cite suspicion of the government as a reason not to get vaccinated, according to the CBS poll. They fear the vaccines were being made too quickly. And in some communities, so many people have already had the coronavirus that they believe they have developed herd immunity and don’t need the shots.
Other Trump supporters believe the Democrats exaggerated the toll of the pandemic to hurt the former president.
This poses a major challenge to a democratic government, the success of which depends on convincing Americans who did not vote for Mr Biden that the vaccines are safe, effective and necessary.
“We’re not always the best messengers,” said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, last week.
This meant that a crucial part of the coronavirus response has been outsourced to the administration.
“It’s not an easy endeavor,” said John Bridgeland, founder and executive director of the Covid Collaborative, a non-partisan group of political and scientific leaders who work on vaccine education and meet regularly with the White House on vaccine hesitation.
“The good news is that the White House has been across all of these populations, including realizing that they’re not nicely positioned to reach out to conservatives,” he said. “That’s why they reach us and others.”
The governors have urged the Biden government on the need for clear communication about the vaccines.
White House officials said their research showed that improving access to the vaccines and buying in locally from doctors and pharmacists is the best way to get skeptical conservatives to sign up for a shot. They are planning a flash of commercials on television, radio and the internet to target problem areas: young people, colored people and conservatives, a clerk said.
While working to increase vaccine availability across the country, administrative officials also work with groups like the NTCA – the Rural Broadband Association and the National Farmers Union – to reach out to rural communities on their behalf.
Shirley Bloomfield, the association’s executive director, has worked with the White House to share what she hears from their local members who have deployed broadband lines in rural areas.
Updated
March 16, 2021, 9:07 a.m. ET
“We have worked to have them designated as essential workers at the federal level,” she said. “I didn’t know we had this problem until people came back and said that less than 30 percent of my team would take the shot.”
Ms. Bloomfield said the second gentleman’s office, Doug Emhoff, reached out to her directly to ask about her members and her views on the vaccines.
Mr. Trump got his vaccine secret before leaving office. In particular, he was not featured in a public announcement vaccinating all other former living presidents – Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter – and encouraging others to follow suit.
Mr Trump was not asked to attend like the others because at the time of filming during Mr Biden’s inauguration, he had not yet revealed that he had been vaccinated.
But behind the scenes there was a quiet effort to convince Mr. Trump to get involved. Joe Grogan, the former director of the White House Home Affairs Council under Mr Trump, has worked with the Covid Collaborative to address conservative reluctance to offer vaccines.
Mr Grogan has made calls about what the best message would be to persuade Mr Trump to get involved – one that inevitably underscores his desire for recognition for the vaccine development as part of Operation Warp Speed.
“As soon as we found out he was vaccinated, I reached out to Joe Grogan,” said Bridgeland, who helped organize the commercial with the former presidents. “We were thrilled to have him vaccinated and would like him to encourage his supporters to get the vaccine.”
A Trump adviser said the former president had not yet been formally approached to speak directly to his supporters.
“It would be very helpful if President Trump made a public announcement,” said Grogan. However, the Biden White House seems divided over how effective Mr Trump’s involvement would really be.
Although Mr Biden denied the need for Mr Trump’s help on Monday, his chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, on Sunday on Fox News, said it would “make all the difference in the world” if the former president encouraged his followers to get vaccinated. And Andy Slavitt, a senior White House pandemic advisor, said Sunday, “This is an effort Republicans should know that started before we got here and we are making it.”
Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist, said the best way for the White House to take politics out of the issue.
What you need to know about the vaccine rollout
“That means Joe Biden should acknowledge what Donald Trump did to make the vaccine a reality,” Luntz said. He has worked with the de Beaumont Foundation, an organization focused on improving public health through politics, to encourage conservatives to get vaccinated.
“I don’t think the Trump administration understood the role of communication,” Luntz said, “and I don’t think the Biden administration understands what it means to communicate with Trump voters.”
On Saturday, Mr. Luntz hosted a focus group of about 20 Conservatives to hear from Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor; and several Republican members of Congress.
Some of the conservatives on the call initially described the vaccines as “rushed” and “experimental” and the coronavirus as “opportunistic” and “government manipulation”. More than half of the callers said their fear of vaccination was greater than their fear of the virus.
But almost all of the participants said they had a more positive opinion about the vaccines after Dr. Frieden had given them five facts about the virus, including: “The more we vaccinate, the faster we can grow the economy and get jobs.”
Mr. Christie emphasized how random the virus can be as it affects different people, including younger adults. Not only did he and Mr. Trump become seriously ill, but he also reminded the group that Hope Hicks, the 32-year-old former Trump adviser, was also very ill.
“She was away for a good 10 days and never had to go to the hospital, but called me and said this was the sickest she had ever been,” said Christie.
Right now, the White House is relying on the work of political opponents like Mr. Christie to sell the message for them. The only substitute within the Biden government that they consider effective among Conservatives is Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, a scientist and Evangelical Christian who stands in both religious and scientific communities.
In the past few weeks, Dr. Collins performed at the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club, a show popular with evangelical Christians and hosted by Pat Robertson for decades. Dr. Collins also plans to reach out to the National Association of Evangelicals, someone familiar with the planning.
Joshua DuBois, former head of the Office for Faith-Based Partnerships and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Obama White House, was impressed with the efforts of the Biden administration to ease vaccine hesitation.
He said Mr. Biden’s top advisors, such as Marcella Nunez-Smith and Cameron Webb, had asked the religious community to answer questions about the vaccines. The calls included black and Hispanic organizations, as well as white evangelicals.
Mr DuBois acknowledged that hesitation in minority communities was rooted in history. When coronavirus vaccines were launched last year, researchers tracked a surge in social media posts about the infamous Tuskegee study, in which health officials followed and did not treat African American men infected with syphilis.
“There is a history of distrust, but current devastation around us,” said DuBois, “and in response to that devastation, people are choosing to be vaccinated.”
