Lighten Up, Francis!

I am, for once, unable to go on with this. https://t.co/Ftq3p3XvnY

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 8, 2021

Real talk from @Sebelius on the need for vaxx mandates

“I’m trying to restrain myself, but I’ve kind of had it...

“You know, we’re going to tiptoe around mandates,” she said. “It’s like, come on"https://t.co/0BESKYIFUS

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 7, 2021

Yeah, this is not the solution you are looking for.

Despite a fast start, the rate of fully vaccinated residents in the Amarillo metro area began lagging behind other Texas counties in April. By June, its vaccination rate was lower than most other metros. https://t.co/nGOoyRxIlQ

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) July 6, 2021

The city of Amarillo has also been hosting mobile clinics in libraries, churches, the courthouse, activity centers and other places where people congregate to try to reach more people, officials said.

Northcott said health officials are also pushing hard to boost vaccinations in areas outside of Amarillo by targeting truck drivers at truck stops, reaching migrant worker communities through their jobs and advocacy programs and setting up clinics “anywhere that will let us come in,” he said.

“It’s constant work,” Northcott said. “We are going to continue our efforts to get people vaccinated — one by one, two by two, ten by ten, whatever — but we are going to keep working at it.”

Richmond, an Amarillo native who describes herself as “extremely conservative,” knows that the government, the health community, and even her peers want her to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Even her husband has gotten the shot, she said.

But she’ll get it if and when she is good and ready.

“I think it’s very strange that the government is bribing people to get the vaccine, and they seem upset about it, that all these people are not getting it,” she said. “But that’s where I am, and there are a lot of people like that, and do we get judged? Yes. But I don’t care, because I have to take care of myself.”

So what're you gonna mandate, again?  And how successful do you expect that to be? Telling people "You MUST DO IT!" is not the power play you imagine it to be.