Mitch McConnell encourages Republican men to get vaccinated

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“I can say that as a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to take it,” McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said Monday, when asked what kind of message he can push as a leader of the GOP to encourage people, especially Republican men, that the vaccine is safe and that they should get it.

McConnell added that there was “no good argument for not getting the vaccine. I would encourage all men, regardless of party affiliation, to get the vaccine,” at a press conference in Hazard, Ky., outside a health clinic for an event focused on the state’s immunization efforts.

In a CNN poll released earlier this month, 92% of Democrats said they had received a dose of the vaccine or planned to get one, while only 50% of Republicans said the same. That same poll found that 46% of Republicans said they would not try to get the shot. Likewise, a PBS NewsHour / NPR / Marist poll conducted this month, 49% of Republican men in the United States say they do not plan to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Reluctance about vaccines was also seen on Capitol Hill. Through a House-wide survey and interviews earlier this month, CNN found that 189 out of 219 Democrats in the House had been vaccinated. In that same survey, CNN also confirmed that 53 out of 211 house Republicans had been vaccinated. Thirteen Republicans told CNN they had not been vaccinated, although many said they had planned. CNN did not receive a response from 145 House Republicans.
Louisiana-elected representative Julia Letlow urged Republicans on Sunday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, citing her own tragic experience of losing her husband to complications from Covid-19.

“Look at my family. Use my story,” the Louisiana Republican said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked for his message to Republicans.

“You know, I went through a tragedy in my immediate family, and Covid can affect any family out there,” Letlow continued. “And so there is a vaccine that has vital capacities, I want to encourage everyone to trust it and get vaccinated.”

Letlow won a special election in Louisiana earlier this month to take the seat her late husband Luke, who won last year’s election, was never able to occupy. He was 41 when he died in December.

CNN’s Alison Main, Caroline Kelly, Jennifer Agiesta, Lauren Fox, and Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.

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