GOP leaders back COVID-19 vaccines as red states fight gunfire

• Three Republican leaders have spoken out in favor of COVID-19 vaccines.
• Mitt Romney has said the politicization of immunization was “an outrage” and “moron.”
• Red states tend to have lower vaccination rates than blue states.
• See more stories on the Insider business page.

Three Republican leaders have spoken out in favor of COVID-19 injections as red-prone states struggle to get people vaccinated as the highly infectious Delta variant tears apart in the United States.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah told The New York Times on Wednesday that it was a “huge mistake for anyone to suggest that we shouldn’t be taking vaccines.” “Look, the politicization of vaccination is outrageous and downright stupid,” he said.

Texas Senator John Cornyn said on Wednesday that most vaccine skepticism was “unfortunately based on conspiracy theories.” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on Tuesday that “we must continue to preach that getting the vaccine is important.”

Romney said President Trump “has moved heaven and earth to get vaccines developed in a timely manner” and that it would be “an insult to accomplishment” if people still fail to get vaccinated, according to The Times .

Meanwhile, many Republicans remain skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines, believing the public health campaign to be an attack on personal freedom. On Monday, several GOP state lawmakers proposed new law to make it illegal to “discriminate” against people who are not vaccinated.

Read more: Experts explain why mRNA technology that revolutionized COVID-19 vaccines could be the answer to incurable diseases, heart attacks and even snakebites: “The possibilities are endless”

Utah, Texas and Kentucky, all of which are trending red states, have below-average vaccination rates with 45%, 43% and 44% fully vaccinated, respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University. The national average is 48.2%.

Insider reported on Tuesday that the greatest number of new cases caused by the highly infectious variant of the Delta coronavirus are mostly found in states with low vaccination rates – which are generally Republicans.

Utah and Kentucky match this trend with more than 80% of new infections caused by the Delta variant, according to Scripps Research Outbreak.info, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Kentucky, the once dominant Alpha variant accounts for about 60% of new infections and Delta 30%. The exact number of Delta infections may vary because not all positive tests are sequenced.