Many of us were surprised early this week when one of the spokesmen against getting vaccinated against the corona virus came out swinging saying that people should get vaccinated:

“Just like we’ve been saying, please take COVID seriously. Enough people have died. We don’t need any more deaths. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor,” Fox News’s Sean Hannity said last night. “It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated.” 

What??? But wait there is more:

Steve Doocy, one of the anchors of the network’s popular morning show Fox & Friends, has been advocating for vaccines, and tangling with co-hosts over it. “If you have the chance, get the shot,” he said yesterday. “It will save your life.”

Among others calling for people to get vaccinated and getting vaccinated themselves are Louisiana representative and minority Whip Steve Scalise. He actually took the first Pfizer shot Wednesday. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has continued to call for vaccinations.

The lone holdout these days seems to be Fox’s Tucker Carlson who refuses to say whether or not he is vaccinated himself, although many reports say he is.

So if you are like me and suddenly see a police car make a hard U-turn in the middle of the street in broad daylight, your curiosity gets piqued. That usually does not happen for no reason. In this case Fox and the party they shill for are trying to pretend that this is ‘business as usual.’ I ain’t buying it, nor is anyone.

Usually when there is a huge change on the right, money is involved. That seems to make as much sense as anything. In this case they sudden changes in stance came one day after a precipitous drop on Wall Street.  The reason for the drop was attributed to rising corona virus numbers in the US. This is bringing up memories of last year with millions out of work and businesses closing never to open again.

Were the painful memories that are still really close in time enough to shock the lie machines that Fox and the Republican Party are into reality? Did those lower portfolios touch some place deep in the heart of the likes of Steve Scalise? Or was it something else entirely.

Maybe the stock drop was an alarm, but maybe the real message that is getting through is that pretty much all the dying and all the suffering right now is landing on Republican families who have followed the Hannities and Carlsons and refused to get vaccinated are now getting sick and dying or are seeing their unvaccinated family members getting sick and dying. 

As these families survey the situation, they realize that they are doing the sacrificing that Hannity and Carlson and Trump refuse to do. They are being sacrificed. As a friend told me, when families realized their sons were dying in Viet Nam and the leader’s sons were not, the tide started to turn against the war. 

Maybe it is the threat of massive lawsuits or possible criminal proceedings that has caught the attention of upper management and now they want their butts covered.

Maybe the realization that the right is killing off its base a little over a year before the next election while they are turning off many more got their attention. It may be a combination of all of the above. I have no doubt that at some level money is the key.

Whatever the reason, let us hope that their followers will finally get vaccinated. This will help slow the spread and the mutation of the virus. Every new vaccination no matter what the reason is one more person to the good.

Maybe sometime in the near future the President will have all the things he needs to order at least all federal workers and suppliers be vaccinated. More and more businesses, schools and hospitals (makes sense, right?) are mandating vaccinations. They don’t want lawsuits. Covering illnesses is expensive and never works well. Plus they could simply lose business if seen as a place where a person might get infected. Better and cheaper to get the help vaccinated. 

In France, Macron has mandated that either you get vaccinated or your access to a normal life will be greatly interrupted. So the French have a choice – get vaccinated and join society or live on the edges. The individual has a choice as to what kind of life they choose to live. In the question of public health versus individual rights, in France public health wins.