Following the science is morphing many governors into the equivalent of carnival barkers.
But if the COVID-19 pandemic is a catastrophic public health event that has turned the world upside down imperiling the lives of 7.9 billion people, why are our political leaders acting as if they are hawking games of chance to get people vaccinated?
And perhaps the most perplexing of all is Gov. Gavin “Ed McMahon” Newsom.
Every other governor using federal COVID relief funds to offer big prizes to pump up the vaccination rates target those who haven’t gotten their shots yet with million-dollar incentive prizes.
The big prizes in Newsom’s “Vax for the Win” sweepstakes are primarily benefiting those who had already been vaccinated before it was launched. Today the state’s COVID lottery headquarters — better known as the California Department of Public Health — is sending the California State Lottery a list of random number identifiers of people previously vaccinated. The state lottery folks will then do a random selection of the identifying numbers and send them back to the public health department. The health agency will then match the numbers with names and contact the winners.
