Vaccine skeptics seize on Colin Powell’s death. He was the youngest chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the first Black American to become secretary of state. And in his prime, he was one of the most respected leaders in the country. But within hours of the public announcement Monday that Colin Powell died of complications from COVID-19 despite a full course of vaccination, some conservative officials and media personalities tried to make him something else: A prominent reason to doubt the coronavirus vaccines’ utility and question the political and health officials urging Americans to get them. Powell, who was 84 and immunocompromised fits perfectly into a demographic that remains vulnerable to infections despite vaccination. His age puts him at a higher risk for COVID-19, and he was battling a blood cancer that’s known to make vaccines less effective. He also suffered from Parkinson’s disease.
