"If you're dying of Covid today, you didn’t take precautions,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in response to a question about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ vaccine skepticism at POLITICO’s Health Care Summit.HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra took aim at Florida governor and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis for sowing mistrust in Covid-19 vaccines and safety measures.
“If you listen to someone telling you not to take that precaution, it’s not just your fault. It’s the fault of that leader who doesn’t give you the best information. If leaders choose not to take care of their people, that’s on them.” He credited those efforts with helping reduce the death toll from the more-than-4,000 who lost their lives on the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration to just over 100 per day now. And he said the administration had succeeded in its efforts to convince people of color traditionally more resistant to vaccination to get their Covid shots.
He blamed misinformation. “Social media is dangerous,” he said. “We’re combatting anecdotal information with facts and believe it or not sometimes the facts lose.”