Rand Paul: ‘I wouldn’t vaccinate my children’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in an interview Thursday on The Hill’s Rising said he would not vaccinate his children for COVID-19 because of concerns about the risk of heart inflammation.
Paul, a vocal critic of pandemic policies who often clashed with former White House adviser Anthony Fauci during the Trump and Biden administrations, said the risk of myocarditis — inflammation of the heart — is greater than they’ve been told. vaccine manufacturers. He also argued that the vaccine carries an unnecessary risk to young people.
“I, frankly, would not vaccinate my children for COVID,” he said. “I think the risks of the vaccine are greater than the risks of the disease. The risks of disease are almost non-existent.”
According to the American Heart Association, studies have estimated that myocarditis occurs in about 1 in 15,000 men ages 16-19 who receive three COVID vaccines.
Myocarditis associated with the COVID vaccine is almost always mild, and patients recover within days, the AHA said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most health authorities have recommended that people get vaccines against COVID-19.
Paul’s remarks about Rising follow a hearing Wednesday where he accused Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel of lying to the public about the risk of myocarditis in young people.
“I also spoke to your president just last week and he readily admitted privately that yes, there is an increased risk of myocarditis,” he said. “The fact that you can’t say it in public is quite disturbing.”
Bancel said the risk of myocarditis from the vaccine is lower than from a COVID infection.
In the Rising interview, Paul proposed that young people get just one dose of the COVID vaccine instead of multiple, citing a study that found the increased risk of myocarditis in young people is mostly after the second dose of the vaccine.
“If you want to give them a vaccine and they’ve already had COVID, why not one instead of three? I think it’s really malpractice,” he said. “There’s room for debate … but I don’t think there’s any evidence to give three vaccines.”
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Paul has been consistently skeptical about COVID vaccines, especially for children and young adults.
He has said that he personally will not get a vaccine against COVID, has advocated for the removal of vaccine mandates for the military and said that vaccines for children are not necessary.
He is also one of the leading voices calling for additional investigation into the origin of COVID-19, an advocate of the “lab leak” theory, and has said that top health officials are involved in a “cover-up” about the origin of the virus.
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