MAGA World is full of anti-vaxxers who refuse to take the COVID vaccine — but want Trump to get credit for it

Many diehard supporters of the President Donald Trump are not only coronavirus deniers — they are also anti-vaxxers. But journalist Tina Nguyen, in an article published by Politico on December 16, discusses a strange trend: pro-Trump anti-vaxxers who have no desire to take a COVID-19 vaccine but want the outgoing president to receive the credit for it.

Nguyen explains, "Across the far-right, and especially in the conspiratorial corners of MAGA World, Trump's supporters are finding novel ways to both lavish the president with praise for speeding a COVID vaccine, while arguing against taking the vaccine itself."

The Politico journalist elaborates, "some explanations focus on limiting vaccinations — only high-risk individuals and health care workers should get it, while the rest should simply resume our pre-pandemic lives. Others are reflexively anti-establishment — a vaccine is needed, but the government shouldn't dictate what we put in our bodies. Others are fantastical — the vaccine is somehow part of an elitist conspiracy to control the world. And increasingly, the loudest anti-vaccine advocates are high-profile MAGA supporters."

Trump supporters who are also anti-vaxxers, Nguyen notes, range from Infowars' DeAnna Lorraine to writers for the Gateway Pundit. Lorraine recently told Infowars listeners, "You know, Trump, probably 80% of your base does not want that vaccine. They are not willing to take a foreign, rushed substance and jab it into our arms. I don't care who takes it. I don't care if Jesus takes it, I'm not taking the vaccine."

Far-right pundit Allie Beth Stuckey recently tweeted, "Tell me how Voter ID is oppressive but a COVID vaccine ID that grants you access to certain spaces isn't."

Trump himself has expressed anti-vaxxer views despite the fact that for political reasons, he tried to pressure the Food and Drug Administration into approving a vaccine before the 2020 election. In 2015, Trump told Opie Radio that he had never even received a flu shot, saying, "I don't like the idea of injecting bad stuff into your body, which is basically what they do."

According to Nguyen, "MAGA World's vaccine resistance is a more hard-edged version of a broader wariness among Republicans. A poll released Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation — as people started receiving the first shots across the nation — showed vaccine hesitancy was highest among Republicans, at 42%, compared with just 12% among Democrats. Overall, 71% of respondents said they would probably get the vaccine. Medical officials have said 70-80% of Americans need the shot to achieve herd immunity."