Coronavirus COVID-19
Doctor: Don't mock the vaccine hesitant. Sympathy saves more lives than schadenfreude.
We want people to live, don't we? Cruelly mocking COVID patients who didn't get vaccinated might make you feel good, but it won't save lives.
Dr. Yoo Jung Kim
Opinion contributor
Phil Valentine, a conservative radio talk show host, chose to undergo intubation last month after contracting COVID-19. Before coming down with the virus, he had been a vocal critic of the COVID-19 vaccinations.
In a June 22 Twitter post, Valentine included a link to "Vaxman" – a musical parody set to the tune of George Harrison's "Taxman" – which opens with the following lines:
"Let me tell you how it will be, and I don't care if you agree, 'cause I'm the Vaxman, yeah, I'm the Vaxman. If you don't like me coming round, be thankful I don't hold you down."
When the news of Valentine's intubation broke, many unsympathetic Twitter users flocked to his page, leaving comments such as, "How's that tube taste, Phil?"