The Republican governor of Arkansas is speaking up about misinformation contributing to a lower rate of vaccination against COVID-19.

It’s Gov Asa Hutchinson’s fellow Republicans who are typically spreading that misinformation, however.

Meanwhile, a noted US expert in vaccinology and global health, is confirming a probable need for Americans to seek a third, additional vaccination shot beyond the two-shot regimen usually already recommended.

“Well, it’s a tough wall of hesitancy that we see, and we have been hit very hard in the sense that we have the Delta variant that came, and then our vaccination rate is not as high as it should have been,” said Hutchinson, of Arkansas. “A month ago we were in good shape, and all of a sudden these two factors that came into play. And so we’re mounting, again, another significant campaign, going to the communities, listening to them, trying to list different strategies to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.

“And it’s the misinformation that’s out there, everything from the vaccination will lead to mind control, to misinformation in terms of consequences and infertility. And we want everybody to go to their trusted physician, go to health care advisor, get good advice on this. We believe that will lead to vaccination,” the governor added. “What we’re seeing, though, is that as the risk increases, vaccination rates will go up. It’s sad to say, but as we see more cases, more hospitalizations, that could be the impact.”

However, it’s Hutchinson’s fellows on the political right who are most often stoking the falsehoods and misinformation.

Most recently, Rep Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) publicly announced the false and completely fictional claim that President Biden’s plan to send people door-to-door to offer vaccines is a plot to confiscate the Bibles and guns belonging to Americans.

A third shot

Meanwhile, even as some parts of the nation struggle to just get current with previously recommended vaccination levels, Dr Peter Hotez said that further vaccinations likely will be needed.

“You know, Pamela, I think we ultimately will need to give a third immunization, and I’ve been pretty much saying that all along. We will need to give that booster. And what that booster will do is really jack up virus neutralizing antibodies to a very high level, will help with T-cell and B-cell memory, and create more durability and more resilience against the variants,” Dr Hotez, director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said during an on-air interview with CNN. “And that’s important because we’ve done such a terrible job at vaccinating the African continent and Latin America and southeast Asia.

” … The big problem now is we have just too many unvaccinated people in the South and other parts of the country,” he added.

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