[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 177 (Thursday, October 7, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6952-S6953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VACCINES
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
[[Page S6953]]
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.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________