Vaccines

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, on another matter, today, President Biden is traveling to Chicago. He arrives with a simple message: Vaccines work.

In Illinois and across the country, vaccine mandates are saving lives and allowing life to return closer to normal. Over the past month, our State has experienced a nearly 40-percent decrease in new COVID cases. We are seeing similar trends around the country.

In the months since the Biden administration announced its policy requiring the majority of Americans to get vaccinated, the United States has finally begun to turn the corner against the delta variant. Over the past 2 weeks--2 weeks--our Nation has seen a roughly 25- percent decrease in new COVID infections. Hospitalizations have decreased by 20 percent, and deaths are down as well.

In Illinois, we are proud to support the Biden vaccine policy. In fact, some of the biggest employers in our State were ahead of the curve. In early July, Loyola Medicine in Chicago was one of the first health systems in America to implement the vaccine requirement. In August, United Airlines, based in Chicago, announced it would require its employees to get vaccinated.

At the time, skeptics questioned whether this would lead to mass resignations or labor shortages. They predicted chaos. Well, much to the dismay of the doomsayers, as of yesterday, more than 99 percent of United Airlines' employees in America have rolled up their sleeves and gotten vaccinated. Every major airline in the country has followed United's lead and introduced a vaccine requirement. This means safer skies for passengers and crew members. It is another big step back to normal.

Unfortunately, not everyone is on board with this science-driven approach. Earlier this week, one of my colleagues from Wisconsin took the floor and made some unfortunate and irresponsible statements about the safety of coronavirus vaccines. This false information, unfortunately, may mislead some people. Senator Johnson decided to bring an argument from a Facebook comment section to the floor of the Senate.

So let me say this: More than 700,000 Americans have now died from coronavirus. That is more than the number of Americans who have died in every war since the Civil War combined.

We have the power to prevent more needless deaths from this disease in the form of three remarkably safe and effective vaccines. Fully vaccinated individuals are 10 times less likely to die from COVID, 10 times less likely to be hospitalized, and far less likely to spread the virus.

The strong majority of Americans agree with President Biden's actions. Importantly, the administration's vaccine mandate is saving lives while also providing commonsense exceptions for those limited numbers of people who have medical or religious reasons.

The fact is, the President's vaccine policy is constitutional, evidence-based, and it is what America needs to once and for all put this pandemic behind us.

Still, some of our colleagues continue to oppose it.

Yesterday, the senior Senator from Utah once again introduced legislation that would do away with the President's vaccine policy. It would also allow anyone to sue the government or their employers for any perceived harm from vaccine requirements. What that harm might be is unclear.

Can you imagine the chaos in our courtrooms if the Senator from Utah has his way? Well, you don't have to imagine too hard because some States have already shown us the deadly cost of taking a stand against public health.

There are several States in our country that both threaten to sue the Biden administration and enact the policies on their own to ban vaccine and mask mandates. They include Texas, Florida, Utah, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Georgia. The leaders in these States have gone to extraordinary lengths to stymie public health efforts to save lives.

How has that worked out for these States? What has this dangerous, deadly policy of opposing vaccines and masks meant in those States?

Take a look at the map here.

This was the deadly cost of resisting science and vaccines between July 1 of this year and October 1. Of the 6 States--Texas, Florida, Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, and Georgia--their infection rates per 100,000 people was 4,441 compared to the rest of the country at 2,548 per 100,000. The death rate, sadly, was 54 per 100,000 in these 6 States, 20 in the rest of the country.

I bring this chart to the floor to make it clear that taking a political position is not about polling and deciding what sounds popular to so many people. It is about the life-and-death reality we face with this virus and this pandemic.

These leaders are arguing for a position against vaccines and against masks, and look who is paying the price: the men and women who live in their States, who are facing higher infection rates and, sadly, dramatically higher death rates because of it. It is time for them to accept the reality that vaccines are safe and effective and that they work.

These States have reported almost twice as many coronavirus infections as the rest of the country and, tragically, nearly three times as many deaths. Lawmakers in these States have chosen a political course rather than one that makes common sense or cares for the well- being of their people.

Our Nation's healthcare professionals are exhausted. You would be, too, if you had to battle the virus every day for 18 months. Now they are threatened with another deadly public health crisis: COVID disinformation from politicians. Doctors and nurses and healthcare workers are being threatened by the virus, and the patients, sadly, who carry it or those who don't believe COVID even exists.

What makes this all the more troubling is that some of the biggest peddlers of disinformation about vaccines have taken steps to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

Allow me to give you exhibit A.

Nearly every night, Tucker Carlson appears on FOX News and distributes bogus information to hundreds of thousands of households across America. Tucker Carlson is the biggest anti-vax quack in America.

But while Tucker is quick to question the science behind masks and vaccines, what he won't tell you is that, every day, he has to comply with a vaccine policy at FOX News. That is right. FOX News requires every one of its employees to disclose their vaccination status. According to ABC News, more than 90 percent of FOX Network's employees have been vaccinated. The remaining 10 percent are required to get tested every single day.

Sound familiar, the FOX policy? It is the same thing Joe Biden has asked for nationwide that many Republicans come to the floor and scream about every day and then turn on FOX News for their information.

So, while there is little ideological overlap between the heads of FOX News and the officials in the Biden administration, they both recognize one undeniable truth: Vaccine mandates are the key to ending this pandemic.

I thank President Biden for showing the world that Chicago is leading the way in putting the pandemic behind us. If we want to save lives, jump-start the economy, get kids back in school, all I can say is three words: Follow the science; stop villainizing public health officials; and start encouraging every American to do their part in, finally, ending this pandemic.

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