The FDA gave emergency authorisation for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the Pfizer vaccine last week, which was exciting and long overdue. There was tremendous joy among parents, who have long worried about their children contracting a very contagious sickness, and much cynicism among Republicans, who have vented their frustrations on Big Bird and the Muppets. But, as you might expect, not everyone is on board. Unfortunately, one of them may run for governor of Texas.
According to The Hill, Oscar winner and potential gubernatorial candidate Matthew McConaughey has spoken out against requiring immunizations in schools for young children, at least for the time being. He announced the news at the New York Times’ DealBook summit, where he attempted to strike a balance between preaching vaccine efficacy while also saying that they should not be mandated.
“I’m vaccinated. My wife’s vaccinated. I didn’t do it because someone told me I had to — [I] chose to do it,” McConaughey said. “Do I think that there’s any kind of scam or conspiracy theory?” he asked himself. His reply: “Hell no.”
But. “Right now I’m not vaccinating mine, I’ll tell you that,” he added.
Since the outbreak began in earnest approximately two years ago, McConaughey claims he’s been “quarantined harder” than his friends. A “significant quantity” of COVID-19 testing has been used as part of this. “But I’m in a situation where I can do that,” he said, “and I appreciate that not everyone can do that.”
Of course, this is still a little better position than current Texas governor Greg Abbott, who, like many other Republican governors in states with significant COVID cases and deaths, has minimized the pandemic and spoken out against vaccine mandates. But it’s still a low bar to clear. And it didn’t impress one person in particular: Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US Surgeon General.
“Many kids have died. Sadly, hundreds of children — thousands — have been hospitalized, and as a dad of a child who has been hospitalized several years ago for another illness, I would never wish upon any parent they have a child that ends up in the hospital,” Murthy told CNN mere hours after McConaughey’s statements went public. “And the vaccines have shown in these trials for children 5 through 11 they are more at 90% effective in protecting our kids from symptomatic infection, and they are remarkably safe as well.”
McConaughey was also asked about another issue afflicting his home state: the harsh abortion law that took effect on Sunday, causing terror as well as sarcastic and amusingly saboteurial attempts to delegitimize it. “Overly aggressive,” the actor said, but added, semi-cryptically, “it doesn’t seem to open up the room for a rational choice to be taken at the correct time.”
His more elaborate response may not exactly ease the nerves of advocates for safe and legal abortions in Texas. “I believe in this: more responsibility, more personal responsibility to make the right choices,” he said. “And we got to pick context with each situation, and each person’s situation, each woman’s situation.”
