Biden Mocks ‘Macho Thing’ of Not Getting Covid Vaccine: ‘Why Don’t You Be a Patriot? Protect Other People?’

President Joe Biden lamented the ongoing politicization around coronavirus vaccines as he stressed their importance for helping the country go back to normal.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos used part of his interview Biden to focus on the president’s recent statements that all American adults will be eligible for the vaccine by May, and that the Fourth of July will offer the country its first glimpse of normalcy since the pandemic began. When asked “when is everything going to be normal for Americans?” Biden stressed that the July 4 deadline is highly contingent on whether people continue to follow public safety guidelines since not everyone will be vaccinated by that point.

Stephanopoulos followed up by asking, “how do you get the politics out of this vaccine talk?”

“I honest to God thought we had it out,” Biden answered. “I honest to God thought that once we guaranteed we had enough vaccine for everybody, things would start to calm down. Well, they have calmed down a great deal, but I just don’t understand this sort of macho thing about ‘I’m not going to get the vaccine. I have a right as an American, my freedom to not do it.’ Why don’t you be a patriot? Protect other people?”

Biden went on by expressing hope that his taking of the vaccine demonstrates that it should be safe for everybody else.

The covid vaccine still seems to be a matter of political polarization, judging by a recent poll that found that half of Republican men say they’ll refuse to take it. This prompted questions about why Donald Trump hasn’t been publicly promoting vaccines, though the former president did a Fox News interview on Tuesday where he recommended people get it.

Watch above, via ABC.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!