WaPo:
The coronavirus vaccine skeptics who changed their minds
The White House and public health experts study the Americans who went from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on shots
Simmons, Bergner and Greenaway are among the growing number of vaccine skeptics turned vaccinated Americans, a sign of hope amid the slowing pace of vaccinations nationwide. Almost half of all adults have yet to receive a first shot although they are now eligible, and the rolling rate of new shots has dropped to its lowest level since mid-March.
The emergence of these mind-changers suggests that at least some vaccine-wary Americans are willing to reconsider when their concerns are addressed by those they regard as credible.
Craig Spencer, MD MPH/elemental:
Are You Sure You Understand Herd Immunity?
A closer look at what it really means and some common misconceptions
The Covid-19 pandemic has made us familiar with terms more frequently used in infectious disease journals than in common parlance. But in conversations with patients, friends, and family, I’ve noticed that understanding of these terms is often inaccurate or incomplete. This is especially true when it comes to the concept of herd immunity.
Everyone seems to understand that herd immunity represents a crucial transition point for Covid-19, when the likelihood of getting infected drops and our ability to return to normal increases.
The questions around herd immunity have started to pick up as more Americans get vaccinated: How many more shots do we have to give before we achieve herd immunity? Are we already there? What about the idea that maybe herd immunity isn’t even achievable?
Before the headlines confuse your understanding of the term even more, let’s talk briefly about what herd immunity is and what people often misunderstand about it.
Travis Mills/USA Today:
I became a quadruple amputee in Afghanistan. It's time for America to leave
Drinking is understandable but that’s not my style. I have a beautiful wife and two children, and I’m thankful for every day with them.
But I don’t have a party, either.
My Alive Day is just another day.
Am I angry we are pulling out after I sacrificed so much? I’m lucky — more than 2,300 service members will never come home at all to their spouses and parents and children. So no, I’m not angry.
And I see the point of those who argue that we need to keep a military footprint in Kandahar and Bagram. This is a volatile part of the world sandwiched between other volatile parts of the world, and we need some kind of presence.
But beyond that, I agree with the president. It’s time to go.
Jonathan Bernstein/Bloomberg:
Why Republican Politicians Stick With Trump
Fictional election fraud pumps up the base, and that’s all that matters in a policy-free party.
My guess is that this has little to do with Trump. Republican complaints about fictional election fraud were central to their legislative agenda in state after state well before Trump’s 2016 campaign. It’s true that the specifics of that agenda have shifted somewhat in response to Trump’s whining. What that shows more than anything, however, is that attempts to hijack elections may only be the secondary motive for these laws; the primary reason for them is for Republican elected officials to convince their strongest supporters that they are doing their best to repress Democrats and various Democratic groups.
That’s why fictional election fraud is such a good issue for many Republicans right now. Opposing Biden and the Democratic legislative agenda, after all, would tend to unite the party. But a united Republican Party is the last thing that Republican radicals want. They need enemies; they need apostates they can label “Republicans in name only” to prove that they are the true conservatives. The Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump’s continuing lies are so obviously an attack on the Constitution, the rule of law and the American republic that Republicans such as Romney and Cheney refused to go along. For the radicals, that’s exactly the kind of opportunity they rarely fail to exploit.
Charles P Pierce/Esquire:
The Entire Conservative Project Is Organized Around Never Accepting an Election Loss
By pressing every advantage, they have gained sufficient control of the process to blunt any opposition soon enough.
You have to have some appreciation for what a perfectly complete whole the conservative project is. By pressing every advantage, and to hell with good government and democracy in general, they have gained sufficient control of the process to defuse most progressive initiatives, to defang most governors if the state happens to go wild and elect a Democrat, and to arrange for the various judicial branches to be their ultimate backup. Accepting the fact that they lost an election is simply not within their comprehension anymore.
Noga Tarnopolsky/WaPo:
Netanyahu is desperate, unhinged and totally uninterested in governing
Unable to claim a mandate, the Israeli prime minister is trying to cling to power anyway
Israel has been without a functional government for more than two years. During this time, the country was dragged through four general election campaigns in which Netanyahu failed to win enough votes to form a stable governing coalition — but succeeded in preventing anyone else from doing so each time.
Stuck in political purgatory, Israel has no budget, and it’s at risk of losing its international credit ratings. The Knesset is not operational, with the prime minister’s allies scrambling to reshape every rule and motion into a parachute that will save his political life. And the cabinet is incapacitated.
The crux of the problem for Netanyahu is that he is on trial, accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. On April 5, the first day of witness testimony, Netanyahu slammed Israel’s judiciary, calling the proceedings “an abuse of the destructive power held by the prosecution.”