January 1, Texas lt. governor under fire for blaming COVID-19 surge on unvaccinated African Americans

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) is under fire comments he made during a recent Fox News appearance that unvaccinated African Americans are the reason for the nation’s spike in COVID-19 cases.

“Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties,” Patrick told Fox New’s Laura Ingraham.

A clip of Patrick’s statement reached over 1.4 million views and over 4,000 responses—one of which belonged to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

“The Lt. Governor’s statements are offensive and should not be ignored,” Turner tweeted.

Patrick took to Facebook to post a statement, wherein he defended his original comments.

“Federal and State data clearly indicate that Black vaccination rates are significantly lower than White or Hispanic rates,” Patrick wrote. “Democrats continue to play politics with peoples’ lives, pandering to rather than serving certain constituencies.”

Source

• Texas lt. governor faces backlash after claiming unvaccinated African Americans responsible for COVID-19 surge