Former President Donald Trump made the false claim that white people could not get vaccinated or treated with therapeutics during his “Save America” rally in Florence, Arizona:
The left is now rationing lifesaving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating, just denigrating, white people to determine who lives and who dies. If you’re white, you don’t get the vaccine, or if you’re white, you don’t get therapeutics.
The New York Times noted that Trump was twisting a Wall Street Journal opinion column:
There is no evidence that white Americans are being denied access to vaccines or treatments.
Trump referred to a Wall Street Journal opinion column criticizing New York state’s guidelines on two limited antiviral treatments that ask health providers to prioritize the therapies for immunocompromised patients and those with risk factors. The guidelines, which were released in late December, said, “Nonwhite race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity should be considered a risk factor, as long-standing systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.”
State officials have defended their guidelines by citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which show that Black, Hispanic and Native Americans are about twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans. A spokesperson for New York state’s Department of Health told Fox News that race did not disqualify patients from treatment but that the guidelines instead considered race as one risk factor.
In New York, white residents are more likely to be vaccinated than Black residents, which is in line with most of the country.
(Sources: The New York Times via Yahoo, RSBN via Twitter)