Republican Senator Joni Ernst has been savaged on Twitter for being the first in Iowa to get the Covid-19 vaccine – months after she claimed the pandemic death count was being exaggerated for financial reasons.
Ernst tweeted a photo of herself getting the shot on Monday, noting that she had gotten the state’s first dose of the vaccine “at the recommendation of the Office of the Attending Physician.”
2/3 I encourage all Iowans and Americans to do the same when their time comes. Thanks to #OperationWarpSpeed and the tireless work of Americans across the country, we are one step closer to defeating this virus.
She encouraged “all Iowans and Americans” to follow in her footsteps “when their time comes.”
The Iowa senator suggested back in September that Covid-19 death numbers were being inflated in order to pad hospitals’ bank accounts, telling a crowd of supporters she was “so skeptical” of the death toll after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released statistics showing that only six percent of recorded Covid-19 casualties had no other health conditions that could have contributed to their deaths.
Many on social media framed the supposedly “anti-science Republican” receiving the vaccine for a virus she “lied about” as rank hypocrisy.
Anyone claiming that #COVID restrictions, including masks, aren’t needed, should NOT be amongst the first to get the vaccine. #disparities#inequalitieshttps://t.co/d3X5c1HrOY via @DMRegister
Joni Ernst lied and said that the COVID death toll was being inflated by doctors who stood to profit from the pandemic. She lied about the pandemic and now she’s getting a vaccine to protect herself from the pandemic she lied about.
Others attacked her for supposedly muscling to the head of the vaccine line – despite her claim it was the state physician who picked her to go first.
First Senator Joni Ernst used the influence given to her by the people of Iowa to lie and say hero doctors saving lives were faking Covid to make money. Now she’s using that influence to get herself vaccinated before you. https://t.co/zBP9eKhech
Joni Ernst is taking a vaccine that someone who was actually being useful could take.It’s disgraceful. https://t.co/fJVAQpnV4C
Several blamed her for pandemic deaths into the bargain.
People died because of the misinformation Joni Ernst put out. Get to the back of the fucking line. https://t.co/kjNEwjgrY4
How many thousands died needlessly because they believed Joni Ernst’s parroting of #MAGA lies about COVID? She also has 24/7 access to the best health care possible. Yet, here she is receiving a vaccine before millions of more worthy cases. What a bunch of lying scumbags. pic.twitter.com/yEQfXbO0pM
Hospitals indeed receive a 20 percent bonus on Medicare reimbursement for patients with Covid-19, and the government pays for the treatment of uninsured patients with the virus.
Combined with the CDC’s guidance encouraging doctors to mark down Covid-19 on death certificates even in cases where it’s only “suspected” or “likely,” those payments have given rise to numerous unproven accusations hospitals are deliberately goosing their coronavirus numbers. The cancellation of elective surgeries and other expensive procedures due to the pandemic has left many healthcare facilities struggling to make ends meet.
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