Elmo Gets Vaccinated Against COVID And Faces Communism Allegations From Anti-Vaxxers
Beloved children’s puppet Elmo has officially received a coronavirus vaccination, as part of an ongoing campaign by the CDC, Sesame Street and American Academy of Pediatricians to vaccinate young children against the virus.
Elmo got the COVID vaccine today, just like Elmo's mommy and daddy! Elmo's daddy had a lot of questions, but Elmo's doctor said the vaccine would help keep Elmo healthy, and all of Elmo's friends and family too! #CaringForEachOther https://t.co/do2AcvCfMg
— Elmo (@elmo) June 28, 2022
Elmo’s father, a muppet with a Southern accent and ginger soul patch, shared that he “had a lot of questions about Elmo gettin’ the Covid vaccine” and didn’t know if it was “safe” or the “right decision.” But after speaking with the family’s pediatrician, Elmo’s father seemingly knew it was the correct choice.
It's okay to have questions about COVID-19 vaccines for children! Elmo's dad Louie talked to their pediatrician, and learned that Elmo getting vaccinated is the best way to keep him and his whole neighborhood safe and healthy! #CaringForEachOther pic.twitter.com/aWkCfysJPE
— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) June 28, 2022
Elmo is trending because he got his #COVID19 vaccine, not because he will be the surprise witness at the January 6th hearing today.Although you never know…..🤔🤔
— Peter Morley (@morethanmySLE) June 28, 2022
As the story trended on Twitter, a number of fans congratulated Elmo for taking a proactive step for his health.
congrats to ELMO!!! https://t.co/3f06L9kpF7
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 28, 2022
Some pointed out larger civic questions about the Sesame Street society — mimicking real-world issues.
Elmo got his COVID shot. But in marginalized communities of Sesame Street, antivax sentiment runs deep after decades of mistrust with the medical community https://t.co/AUWfWZOuJV
— Boston Globe Pitchbot (@BostonSatire) June 28, 2022
As with almost any vax discussions online, some vaccine deniers started to argue with Elmo online.
you’re a puppet. you didn’t get a vax. you can’t catch covid.this is literally just state propaganda for children.
— Freckled Liberty 🔥 (@FreckledLiberty) June 28, 2022
A few anti-vaxxers also criticized his father.
Elmo’s dad is a failure as a parent. In addition to being a gullible fool, he also raised a psychopathic child who refers to himself in the third person. https://t.co/3ub1Qx5W1O
— Brandon 🇺🇸🥓🥃 (@Brash_1) June 28, 2022
Whether in jest or serious, some Twitter users strangely accused the red puppet of also being a Red.
Forget you Elmo, you used to be cool. But you enjoy that gene 🧬 therapy killshot 💉see how that works out for you. Nice knowing you. Not. pic.twitter.com/Yh5YktP97e
— Last Days Lightbearer (@LightRStar) June 28, 2022
Even so, a number of vaccine- and Muppet-supporting posters pushed back against those who had harsh words for Elmo.
Conservatives when 19 children die in a mass shootingVsConservatives when Elmo gets a vaccine: pic.twitter.com/sqgzxV0dRf
— KristinDeLuciaMorgan (@kmorgan76) June 28, 2022
The country is falling apart and Fox is like "more on the vaccination status of Elmo coming up next"
— Grace ¯\(ツ)_/¯ (@GraceLaps) src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 28, 2022
Fellow Sesame Street resident Big Bird also came under fire from anti-vaxxers and certain conservatives for getting vaccinated earlier this year. According to Sesame Street lore, Big Bird is 6 while Elmo is 3, meaning that Elmo only became eligible for the vaccine on June 18th. Neither Elmo nor his father specified which type of vaccine Elmo received, but the CDC has recommended both Pfizer and Moderna for children of that age.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who also beefed on Twitter with Big Bird following their coronavirus vaccination, tweeted against Elmo as well.
Thanks,
sesamestreet</a> for saying parents are allowed to have questions!<br><br>You then have <a href="https://twitter.com/elmo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5. But you cite ZERO scientific evidence for this. Learn more:https://t.co/Ss20TmFTSB https://t.co/tr67QyfRyC— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 28, 2022
So far, nobody on Sesame Street has acknowledged or replied to Cruz's tweet yet.
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Lexicanium Coeus
Calling elmo's hair color an analogy for communism would have been more convincing.
IfYaDVote-ReplyToWhy
Right-wingers are experts in McCarthyism. Anything political that is remotely different than their extreme ideologies gets labeled as "Communism". I can't call it ignorant, it's just straight up being dumb.
SardonicRainboom
VeteranAdventureHobo
Elmo is like ash, he's been 3 for 50 years at this point. His actual age doesn't matter so much as his role to teach kids about basically everything a kid needs to know about, and one of those things is that "vaccination isn't scary"
And, Ted, like, you want sesame street to site scientific evidence? To kids under 7? What are they supposed to do with it, read a peer reviewed study? Sure
ConspiracyNut
Why are you against education, Hobo?
VeteranAdventureHobo
If a 5 year old can manage to read a scientific paper then they are god-damned super geniuses. I got my degree in environmental engineering, scientific papers are nightmares of hyper specific jargon and confusing inter paper citations.
In my opinion though, sadly, they are the only accurate sources on these things. News articles that talk about them are either dumbed down or completely misleading.
Heck, even studies have to be looked at closely. As an example, if you look into the initial "study" that started the anti vax movement, it's methodology was god awful, it only interviewed like, 20 parents, and it wasn't even testing for autism. The guy who made the "study" was actually attempting to invent an entirely fake imaginary digestive disease caused by vaccines that he claimed caused autism, and he was doing it so he could sell a new, alternative vaccine process that he conveniently patented so he would financially gain from the other vaccines going out of fashion. He even lied about the results from several of the kids in order to fake a correlation.
I'm sorry if I don't think 5 year olds can parse scientific info directly, but until a kids taken their first science course citing sources might as well be chanting magic runes at them
Kenetic Kups
Hilariously hypocrtitical of you
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