McConnell urges GOP men to get vaccinated: ‘No good argument not to’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Monday urged his fellow Republican men to get vaccinated, after reports showed that a large percentage of GOP men said they did not have plans to receive the vaccine.

“As a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that,” McConnell said at an event in Kentucky dedicated to promoting vaccines when asked about vaccine skepticism among that demographic group.

“With regard to Republican men, take the vaccination,” McConnell continued.

He went on to tout the effectiveness of the vaccines, juxtaposing it with the efficacy of the flu shot.

“Two of ‘em are 90 percent effective. One of ‘em is 70 percent effective, and I didn’t realize until this pandemic began that the flu shot is only 50 percent effective, and a whole lot of people get the flu shot,” McConnell said.

“So there’s no good argument not to get the vaccination. I would encourage all men, regardless of party affiliation, to get the vaccination,” McConnell added.

The pitch comes after a number of polls showed that a significant percentage Republican men were hesitant to receive the vaccine. Earlier this month, a PBS NewsHour-NPR-Marist poll found that 49 percent of Republican men would not receive the vaccine.

Comparatively, about 87 percent of the Democrats polled said they planned on receiving an inoculation or they already had.

On Dec. 18, McConnell received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.