Many outlets met incredible backlash previously from observers over their framing of COVID-19 cases, which is in drop as a percentage of vaccinated people; the awareness of vaccinated people to the Delta variant, which is infinitesimal; and, the rate vaccinated people could spread the variant.
The pushback from the White House involved an all-caps correction to the New York Times, which alleged vaccinated and unvaccinated people spread the Delta variant at the same rates.
On Friday, Ben Wakana, the Deputy Director of Strategic Communications and Engagement to the White House COVID-19 Response Team, announced: "VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG."
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Furthermore, on Friday, Wakana pushed back against a Washington Post allegation that a CDC study attributed three-quarters of those infected in a massive Massachusetts COVID-19 outbreak to being previously vaccinated. He called the outlet "completely irresponsible."
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"3 days ago the CDC made clear that vaccinated individuals represent a VERY SMALL amount of transmission occurring around the country," Wakana announced. "Virtually all hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among the unvaccinated. Unreal to not put that in context."
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Two Biden officials talked with CNN’s Oliver Darcy regarding the matter, one of whom told Darcy that "the media’s coverage doesn’t match the moment. It has been hyperbolic and frankly irresponsible in a way that hardens vaccine hesitancy." They continued that the greatest problem remains unvaccinated people getting and spreading the virus.
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Darcy explained that as the Biden officials explained to him, "the administration is worried that the media’s focus on these instances of breakthrough infections might lead to people being more hesitant to get a vaccine."
"Think about it," he said, "If you’re a young person, and already believe you will be ok if you do get infected, why would you now get a vaccine, given that coverage suggests you can still just as easily become infected and spread the virus after receiving a shot?"
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"The worry about this line of messaging from major media sources worried officials so much, I’m told," Darcy went on, "that they reached out to several major news organizations with the aim of getting them to dial back the coverage."
A source familiar with the situation confirmed that media coverage was "inaccurately hyping the news and misrepresenting it without context." According to the source, the Biden administration feels that "news outlets experiencing a quantifiable ratings dip from Trump being gone are being irresponsible for eyeballs, in ways that could diminish the scientifically indisputable case for vaccinations."