Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, said on Twitter that he has no intention of taking a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available.
“I do hope a vaccine is developed soon, but I won’t be taking it,” Mr. Massie tweeted on Thursday evening.
Mr. Massie’s tweet came during the second presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden and he did not immediately explain his reasoning on Twitter.
Mr. Massie later told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he did not intend to take the vaccine because he is not in a high-risk category and trusts his natural immune system response more than whatever vaccine becomes available.
Mr. Massie is not the only public official to express aversion or reluctance to getting a coronavirus vaccine. While Mr. Massie said he does not want to personally take the vaccine, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that Americans ought to be skeptical of the coronavirus vaccine and how it will be produced.
When pressed on ABC’s Good Morning America this week, the New York Democrat cast doubt on the vaccine development process.
“You are going to say to the American people now, ’Here’s a vaccine, it was new, it was done quickly, but trust this federal administration and their health administration, that it’s safe, and we’re not 100 percent sure of the consequences,’” Mr. Cuomo said on ABC. “I think it’s going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be.”
In a statement posted on his website before Mr. Cuomo’s remarks to ABC, Mr. Cuomo said his state would work with the federal government to ensure that everyone who wants a vaccine will get one and noted that his state could not do so without federal government assistance.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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