Andrew Yang Calls for Barcodes To Identify Vaccinated People
Failed Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang gets the award for the worst coronavirus suggestion to date: using barcodes to identify people who have been vaccinated.
Yang — a businessman who plans to run for New York City mayor — ignited a volcanic backlash with his barcode idea, which invoked the dehumanizing practice used in Nazi Germany to identify and persecute Jews.
“Is there a way for someone to easily show that they have been vaccinated – like a bar code they can download to their phone?” he asked Dec. 18 on Twitter. “There ought to be.”
Is there a way for someone to easily show that they have been vaccinated – like a bar code they can download to their phone? There ought to be.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) December 18, 2020
Yang claimed the barcodes are necessary so people could “interact more freely” once they know who has been vaccinated.
He explained that it’s “[t]ough to have mass gatherings like concerts or ballgames without either mass adoption of the vaccine or a means of signaling.”
I’ve been tested at a photo shoot or interview and gotten a bracelet showing I was negative. Then we could interact more freely.
— Andrew Yang??? (@AndrewYang) December 18, 2020
Yang was eviscerated on Twitter, with many comparing his tone-deaf suggestion to the yellow stars of David or the dehumanizing tattoos that Nazis forced on Jews.
“Might want to rethink this one before running for mayor of the city with the largest concentration of Jewish population in the country,” conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller quipped.
Might want to rethink this one before running for mayor of the city with the largest concentration of Jewish population in the country.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 18, 2020
Others shared similar sentiments.
Or… Why not just pin a star to our jackets… https://t.co/zDpNBlkcRG
— Rose Unplugged (@rose_unplugged) December 19, 2020
Something like a tattoo on your forearm? I think that’s got some staying power. pic.twitter.com/J0zil3IIof
— Amanda (@_Mrs_Farnum) December 18, 2020
I guess your idea and my idea of being free are very different. Mine does not include being barcoded by the government.
— Mark Wichman MD (@MarkWichmanmd) December 21, 2020
Another Twitter user pointed out the hypocrisy of trying to slap barcodes on people while rabidly opposing voter ID laws.
What about voter ID? Andrew, get back with us when we can identify voters first!
— President-Elect Angel ❌ (@AngelOfficial) December 18, 2020
As it is, Americans are divided on whether they want to get vaccinated.
Some are eager to get the injection, which was produced in record time thanks to President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed initiative.
Others are leery amid reports of potential side effects. Last week, four Chicago-area health care workers experienced mild adverse reactions to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
Many do not want the government to mandate vaccinations, saying it’s an unconstitutional infringement on civil liberties.
Meanwhile, there’s also a growing chorus of critics who oppose mask mandates. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky blasted such mandates, saying they’re unscientific and ineffective at preventing viral spread.
Paul, a physician, pointed out that the places with strict mask mandates have experienced a spike in COVID-19 infections.
“Every one of the mandates — and you look in country after country, state after state — you look at when the mask mandates went in — the incidents went up exponentially after the mandates,” the senator told Breitbart News.
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