The above screen shot is from this Washington Post story about the state-by-state progress being made in the effort to vaccinate Americans against the coronavirus. The different shades of green indicate the percentage of state residents who have received at least one dose of a vaccine—the darker the shade, the higher the percentage. By my count, 20 states are shaded the darkest green, which means at least 48% of the population has received at least one dose. They are:
| Maine | Connecticut | Delaware | New Mexico |
| New Hampshire | New York | Virginia | California |
| Vermont | New Jersey | Illinois | Oregon |
| Massachusetts | Pennsylvania | Minnesota | Washington |
| Rhode Island | Maryland | Colorado | Hawaii |
Only six states get the lightest shade, indicating that less than 36% of the population has received a dose. They are:
| Tennessee | Mississippi | Alabama | Louisiana | Wyoming | Idaho |
You know what I'm going to say, right? The vaccines have now been widely available for some time. Anyone eager to be vaccinated probably has been. Among those who haven't, there is considerable skepticism about the vaccines, and many have made a deliberate decision to go without. It therefore seems significant that a state's political orientation tracks closely with it's vaccination rate. Attitude toward the vaccine is essentially a proxy for attitude toward Trump and his party. The 20 darkest green states all voted for Biden. The six lightest green states all voted for Trump. If you delve just a bit deeper, more of the same. Biden won 25 states. The five that aren't the darkest green are: Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. These were all among Biden's narrowest wins. Supposing that, in the list of the darkest green states, you swapped out Pennsylvania for Michigan. The 20 states with the highest vaccination rates would then coincide exactly with Biden's 20 best states. Meanwhile, in the six lightest green states, Trump's narrowest victory was by 16.5 percent (in Mississippi).
Uncanny. Also, depressing. A desperately needed public health initiative is controversial among a large chunk of Republican voters—and with no one else, because the truth of its life-saving efficacy is indisputable. Alas, it's in keeping with the trend. Liz Cheney is going to be purged from Republican party leadership. For what? Stating that the Great Leader lost the election, another obvious truth. The country has two main political parties and one of them is allergic to reality. Climate change? They say it's a hoax.
UPDATE
Now that the CDC says vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks, but the unvaccinated should, a joke is circulating that might serve as a coda to this post.
How can you tell whether someone’s been vaccinated?
Ask them who won the election.
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