Many of those on the political right have, for months, often stood in opposition to vaccination against COVID-19 — and in too many cases — resorted to misinformation or disinformation to cast aspersions on the vaccines.

However, those who have been anti-vaccine are now increasingly looking to point the finger of unvaccination elsewhere, in the face of mounting new cases of the illness and its Delta variant.

And they are often pointing towards Black Americans.

Now an ER doctor is calling out one such individual, her state’s Republican lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, of Texas.

This, as more Texas hospitals are reporting a shortage of ICU beds than at any other time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state 18 months ago — just one sign among many that the health crisis is on track to reach its most dangerous phase yet, health officials say.

“Shame on Dan Patrick. I don’t know him personally so I can’t speak to his intentions but those statements sound like classic, baseless race baiting and they are baseless and when you compare the numbers, Black Texans make up only 12 percent of the Texas population compared to 70 percent white Texans, there are about 2.8 million black Texans unvaccinated compared to 6.4 million white Texans so what that means is for every one black person in the state who is not vaccinated, there are three white people in the state who are not vaccinated,” said Dr Richina Bicette, an emergency medicine resident physician at Baylor College of Medicine, and herself a Black Texan. “Black and African-Americans are not who are driving the COVID numbers up.”

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