Mitch McConnell says he BACKS Republican Alabama Governor Kay Ivey blaming the unvaccinated for the increase in cases and urges Americans to 'ignore bad advice' 

• Ivey came under fire from some fellow Republicans over comments last week where she said it was 'time to start blaming unvaccinated folks' for COVID surges
• She took a less combative approach in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post 
• The Alabama governor pleaded with Americans to 'use common sense'
• McConnell, who has been pushing a pro-vaccine message since he was inoculated in December, said he was 'encouraged' by Ivey's statements
• Both Kentucky and Alabama are below the national average for at least one dose
• COVID  is surging in the US, with hospitalizations rising most in GOP-led states 

Mitch McConnell on Wednesday is standing by fellow Republican Kay Ivey's comments blaming unvaccinated Americans for the surge of coronavirus cases across the country, which has hit some GOP-led states including Ivey's particularly hard.

The Alabama governor last week told reporters it is 'time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks' for rising cases of COVID-19 and criticizing people spreading misinformation about the vaccines. 

In a recent op-ed Ivey lauded the Trump administration's push to develop a vaccine and urged Americans 'If you can take the shot, roll up your sleeve and get one.'

'This vaccine works, and we need to start acting like it. This is not political: It's just common sense,' she wrote in the Washington Post.

'I was encouraged by what the governor of Alabama said,' the Senate minority leader told Reuters.

COVID cases across the US have been rising through July, with an average of 61,354 now reported each day according to Reuters' COVID tracker.

The CDC is projecting a rise in COVID hospitalizations over the next four weeks, with 4,800 to 20,000 anticipated by August 23.

The majority of people hospitalized with the virus are unvaccinated. 

By contrast the vaccination rate has plummeted to less than 500,000 per day since more than one million Americans per day were getting inoculated through part of June. 

McConnell blamed 'bad advice' for people's hesitation.

'Apparently you see that all over the place: people practicing medicine without a license, giving bad advice. And that bad advice should be ignored,' the Kentucky lawmaker said.

The highly contagious Delta variant accounted for 83 percent of all new cases as of last week.  

'Not enough people are vaccinated,' said McConnell, a 79-year-old polio survivor. 'So we're trying to get them to reconsider and get back on the path to get us to some level of herd immunity.'

About 49 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and roughly 57 percent have had just one dose. The threshold to reach herd immunity for a disease could be as high as 90 percent, according to Johns Hopkins.

McConnell's home state of Kentucky lags the national average for one dose with 51 percent, and Ivey's Alabama is farther behind at 42 percent. Four of the five states with the lowest vaccination rates have Republican governors. 

In her op-ed Ivey pointedly resisted mandating vaccines in her op-ed vowing it would 'never happen' in her state following recent mandates on state and city employees in California and New York City, and even on the federal level within the VA.

About 40 percent of Republicans are uncertain about the vaccine or are unwilling to be vaccinated, polling data published by the Morning Consult showed. That is more than double the 16 percent of Democrats who voiced those concerns. 

Ivey echoed McConnell in blaming misinformation for people's hesitance.  

'I believe those who are pushing fake news and conspiracy theories about this vaccine are reckless and causing great harm to people. The unvaccinated folks are being lied to, and that is just plum sad,' she wrote. 'Let me be crystal clear: The covid-19 vaccine is our best weapon against this disease, and I encourage everyone to take it.'  

While McConnell has maintained a consistent message on vaccinations since he and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were vaccinated in December, other members of his party have sent mixed messages.

When congressional Republicans have spoken up about the dangers of the COVID-19 Delta variant, some in their party have often mixed health messages with political attacks or advocated positions that could reinforce reluctance to get vaccinated.

In a statement last week Trump said, 'People are refusing to take the vaccine because they don't trust (Biden's) administration, they don't trust the election results.' 

'I don't take a position of either encouraging or discouraging (vaccination),' said Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who has called attention to statistics on vaccine safety that many experts dismiss as misleading.

Members of the House Republican Doctors Caucus also claimed at a news conference last week that natural immunity is an acceptable defense against the Delta variant, a message at odds with guidance from public health officials.

The spread of the Delta variant even pushed the CDC to urge fully vaccinated Americans to resume wearing masks in indoor public spaces in much of the country, including much of the southeastern United States from Texas to Florida.

Republican governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis and South Dakota's Kristi Noem made a point to publicly dismiss US health officials' warning.