'This isn’t North Korea,' Dunleavy says
The Anchorage Daily News has a good summary today of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s refusal to plead with Alaskans to get vaccinated despite the overcrowding crisis endangering the operation of Alaska hospitals.
“Get a vaccine if you want to,” has been the Dunleavy mantra for months, which is code for saying “Don’t get a vaccine if you don’t want to” and “It’s your choice.”
I have been critical of Alaska news organizations for not explaining his code words and his evasiveness, but the Daily News cut through it today:
Dunleavy and other officials, in a news conference streamed on Facebook, said vaccination remains the best solution to the ongoing crisis.
But the governor stopped one step short of urging vaccinations, instead saying Alaskans should talk to their doctor about getting vaccinated “if that’s what they want to do.”
“We know what we need to do. People know what they need to do,” Dunleavy said. “They need to have conversations with their doctor and make a decision, if that’s what they want to do. If they don’t, then they have to understand that they run the risk of getting infected, especially with this variant that is highly contagious.”
In response to a reporter’s question asking whether that is an effective technique to encourage vaccination, Dunleavy said, “This isn’t North Korea. You don’t dictate to people how they live their lives.”
“I think it’s the best strategy. It’s 2021. This isn’t some place in Europe in 1939. You have conversations with folks. . . . You have conversations with your doctors. You have conversations with your friends . . . People aren’t stupid,” he said.
For months, Dunleavy has been telling Alaskans that getting vaccinated is a personal choice, not a public health responsibility. Alaska hospitals are filling up now with seriously ill people who have refused to be vaccinated, swallowing the pro-choice strategy used by Dunleavy and many other Republicans.
When Dunleavy launched into his unreasonable North Korea strawman argument at a press conference Thursday, he was responding to reasonable questions from two reporters about how the rising hospitalization numbers show his “Get a vaccine if you want one” plan is failing.
“We’re a different country than some other places. We don’t grab our people by the arm and force them to be vaccinated. That’s just not what we do here in this country. That’s not what we’re going to do in this state,” he said.
“People know what they need to do. They need to have conversations with their doctors and make a decision if that’s what they want to do. If they don’t, then they have to understand that they run the risk of getting infected, especially with this variant that is highly contagious.
“It’s 2021 in America. Here in Alaska we have the tools needed. Folks can easily go and get a vaccine if that’s what they so choose. Again, this is discussion in my opinion between the doctors and the individuals,” he said.
“There’s a big difference between grabbing somebody’s arm and forcing a needle into it and having a conversation with an individual so they can ask the questions about the science,” he said.
Nat Herz of Alaska Public Media said that Dunleavy is facing criticism for not offering “a more urgent call for people to get vaccinated” and asked why the governor isn’t telling Alaskans they should be vaccinated unless they have medical conditions that make it unsafe.
Dunleavy took offense at the question and invented the idea that a forceful call for getting people vaccinated is the same as forcing people off the streets to be vaccinated.
“This isn’t North Korea. You don’t dictate to people how they live their lives,” he said.
Dunleavy defended his strategy of telling unvaccinated Alaskans that it’s entirely up to them if they want to be vaccinated.
“I think it’s the best strategy. It’s 2021. This isn’t someplace in Europe in 1939. You have conversations with folks. There’s mass media that’s telling everyone where they can get vaccinations and how the vaccinations work or don’t work for some folks. You have conversations with your doctors. You have conversations with your friends,” he said.
“This idea that you’re going to force people to undergo a medical procedure when we just talked about having a 24 percent increase in vaccinations. People aren’t stupid, they aren’t. They’re making a decision, this is true, but they’re making a decision I hope in consultation with their doctors, so I don’t know when you say forceful, make an announcement that we’re going to force people to get a vaccination. No, that’s not going to happen.”
Herz replied, correctly, that no one is arguing that “we should be forcibly vaccinating folks.”
Dunleavy rambled on and went back to his standard spiel, “So you have a vaccination, you can use it if you so choose. Beyond that, people have to make decisions that they wish to make in consultation with their docs regarding their health.”
At that point, one of Dunleavy’s handlers stepped in and cut off the uncomfortable conversation.
The best analysis of what Dunleavy is doing with his pro-choice campaign came in a tweet from Dr. Jennifer Meyer, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Alaska Anchorage:
“He is trying to thread the needle between feeding the base lies so they can maintain their rage + identity, and not appearing too obviously liable for harm caused by withholding sound population-based public health measures during a pandemic.”
This isn’t North Korea. And it isn’t someplace in Europe in 1939. This is Alaska and Dunleavy is running for reelection, refusing to urge Alaskans to get vaccinated.
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