New York Post encourages everyone in city to get vaccinated

The editorial board of the New York Post is encouraging everyone in the country’s largest city to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as the nation struggles to combat vaccine hesitancy despite the federal government’s aggressive rollout efforts. 

“We all need to do better, so the greatest city in the world can get back to being great, with crowded streets and that familiar electricity in the air,” the Post wrote in an editorial published online Wednesday night and in print on Thursday. 

The editorial was promoted on the paper’s front page with the headline “GET VAXXED!” 

“GET VAXXED!” message on the front of today’s @NYPost: “With only half of NYers jabbed, we need you to help get us back to normal” pic.twitter.com/0FFwdvfZbN

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 22, 2021

The paper called on Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to make combating barriers to vaccination a priority, saying “elected leaders need to make it easier” to get vaccinated. 

New York officials reported this week they have seen a drop in demand in recent weeks, with walk-in vaccine clinics across the country going unused. It stands in contrast to some other areas of the country, where demand is high but vaccine supply is lacking. 

President Biden announced Wednesday that the nation will have administered 200 million coronavirus shots by the end of the day.

“To put it simply, if you’ve been waiting for your turn, wait no longer. Now is the time for everyone over 16 years of age to get vaccinated,” Biden said, before noting that “the broad swath of American adults still remain largely unvaccinated.”

Adding to growing vaccine hesitancy across the nation, the Post said, was a recent pause by the federal government in administering Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine after blood clotting issues were found in an extremely small number of women who had taken it. 

That development in the nationwide vaccine rollout helped feed “fears about all the vaccines, feeding the conspiracy theories of anti-vax cranks,” the Post wrote. 

The Post, owned by News Corp. and writing from a center-right perspective in many of its opinion articles and staff editorials, also took a shot at top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci for his recent suggestion that even fully vaccinated Americans should continue to wear masks and practice social distancing. 

“The likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci aren’t helping, either, by insisting Americans still wear masks even after they’ve been fully vaccinated. Too many people will ask, ‘Well, then, what’s the point of getting the jab?’” the newspaper wrote. “Don’t let him discourage you. Vaccinations are exactly how we stop wearing masks. We already should be back in school, and eating out, if it weren’t for the undue caution of de Blasio and Cuomo. But if you get vaccinated, they have no excuse.”