Thread by @DrRobDavidson

As an ER doc, here's why the #AmericanRescuePlan must be passed right away: I’ve seen 2 of my sickest #COVID19 patients ever in the last 2 weeks. It's great that 3 safe, effective vaccines are available, but we MUST get shots in arms ASAP. Without this plan, we can’t do that.

I know #Pandemicfatigue is impacting the most ardent supporters of public health. But getting 70-90% of Americans vaccinated is the light at the end of the long tunnel through which we’ve travelled over a year. The final % needed is time sensitive. We haven’t a moment to waste.

If we don't distribute these vaccines effectively & quickly, I know I’ll keep seeing more & more patients unnecessarily suffering. To that end, not passing @joebiden's rescue plan is tantamount to withholding care and treatment that can save lives.

Although the number of hospitalizations is lower than it’s been since November, case numbers have flattened as more states are relaxing measures to slow the spread. As transmission goes up, the risk of more contagious variants climbs as well. That is a situation we need to avoid.

#SARSCoV2 variants threaten to undermine the vaccination effort. To date, the vaccines we have available work to varying degrees against the known dominant variants, but as time goes by, we run the risk of a variant emerging that evades our vaccines. Then we are at square one.

The American Rescue Plan provides states with resources needed for safe school & business reopening, and critically, it provides funding for vaccine distribution. Any delay in this funding puts more lives at risk, and allows variants to continue to propagate.

So it is inexplicable that every Republican member of the US House voted against this plan. We’ve lived through a year of the politicization of masks, shutdowns & minimization of the seriousness of #COVID19. Hundreds of thousands paid with their lives. How many more must die?

And in my home state of Michigan, the GOP legislature is holding us all hostage, withholding $5 billion in already-allocated COVID relief funds sent by the previous administration, because they don’t like @GovWhitmer. They are choosing political power plays over Michigan lives.

Michigan doctors, hospitals & health departments need that money to get shots into arms as the Biden administration has sent more vaccines our way. We are finding out whether certain politicians care more about politics or our patients.

As medical professionals, we don't care about partisan bickering or bargaining. We just want to save lives, and stop the worst plague any of us have ever seen.

The politicians should give us the tools we need & then stay out of the way.