The fictional Sesame Street character Big Bird announced on Saturday that he has received the COVID-19 vaccine, causing a rapid backlash from the far right Republicans Led by the Texas Senator Ted Cruise.
After the U.S. fully approves the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for this age group, vaccinations for U.S. children between the ages of 5 and 11 will begin this week. Sesame Street, which had previously launched a vaccine advertising campaign, deployed two of its most popular roles to encourage parents to vaccinate their children.
“I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wings feel a little sore, but this will bring extra protection to my body and keep me and others healthy,” Big Bird tweeted that Big Bird is a walker The talking yellow bird character should be six years old. “Ms.@EricaRHill even said that I have been vaccinated since I was a child. I don’t know!”
Elmo is another three-year-old puppet character, and he added that he is “happy to learn that friends can now be vaccinated against COVID-19, and soon Elmo can too!”
Their seemingly harmless tweets in support of vaccination soon triggered a surreal but predictable culture war on social media. Big Bird bears the brunt of the anger from Republicans.
“The government propaganda…give you 5 years old!” Cruz responded.
The pro-Trump Republican and Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers wrote on Twitter: “Big Bird is a communist.”
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Robbie Starbucks, a Republican candidate for Congress in Tennessee, said that Big Bird may die from the vaccine. “*7 days later* the big blood clot bird comes up!” He tweeted.
While liberals praised the show for promoting vaccines, other conservatives also joined the attack on children’s TV roles.
Fox News writer Lisa Booth accused Big Bird of “brainwashing children who are not at risk of contracting the new crown virus”, calling it “distorted”.
Republican legislators believe that vaccine authorization is an excessive federal expansion and violation of personal freedom. They oppose the president. Joe BidenEfforts to launch vaccines have forced public health issues into the realm of partisan politics.
As the Delta variant spread across the country this summer, Republicans became more and more suspicious of the vaccine, to the point that some polls found that almost 50% of Republican voters are unlikely to be vaccinated.
Conservatives, including Fox News The host, which widens the red/blue gap in vaccination rates. Last month, TV anchor Neil Cavuto implored Fox News viewers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on live broadcasts after being infected with the virus. This caused mixed reviews from an online audience. The host of the network weakened the effectiveness of the vaccine. And made a comparison. Call for apartheid.
In the vaccinated population, the chance of contracting the virus and developing severe or fatal cases is much lower, but it cannot be guaranteed. In addition, some of the long-term effects of the virus (sometimes called “long-term COVID”) remain unclear.
Weekly newspaper Contact Sesame Street for comments.
