Gov. Jared Polis lamented Friday that “misinformation and deliberate lies” are creating resistance to vaccine science and killing Colorado people.
Polis has provided the Legislative Joint Budget Committee with information on government spending for the 2022-23 fiscal year. He preceded his budget proposal with a comment about COVID-19.
“(O) ur hospitals are now filled with mostly unvaccinated Coloradans, many of whom are victims of disinformation campaigns and targeted lies about the life-saving vaccine,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it is because of this misinformation that these unprotected Colorado people fall prey and become severely ill, and in some cases die from the virus, and also turn them into vessels for new mutations such as omicron. This misinformation not only poses a threat to our public health, but every new mutation affects the economy here and around the world. “
According to the state, about 30% of Coloradans remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. Now in the fifth wave of the virus, Colorado is reporting several thousand new infections every day. As of Thursday, the state said there were only 67 ICU hospital beds and 399 general hospital beds statewide. Polis and other officials have warned for weeks that hospital capacity here could be exceeded this month.
About 82% of Colorado residents hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Thursday were not vaccinated, according to the state. More than 9,500 Colorado residents have died from the virus.
The policy, which advertises the benefits of vaccination in virtually every public speech, has largely refrained from speaking out about hesitant vaccination or anti-vaccination campaigns. But in some cases, he let the frustration slip away.
“It looks like science solved this problem, but then people screwed up,” Polis said in August during a conversation with the creators of the South Park TV show.
“I have no doubt that (the unvaccinated people) want death, but they are clogging up our hospitals,” he told reporters last month.
Before the pandemic, the governor’s stance on vaccine skepticism was a source of great disappointment to his fellow Democrats in the state legislature, who effectively overturned the 2019 Child Vaccine Rates Improvement Act because they could not agree to terms with Polis. Another version of this bill was passed last year.
Two years ago, Polis described himself as a “choice proponent” about vaccines, and in an interview with The Denver Post months before the COVID-19 vaccine became available, Polis twice declined to say whether he still thinks so.
