Rand Paul says he won't get vaccinated because he's already had COVID-19
Rand Paul revealed he would not be getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The senator from Kentucky said he sees no point in getting vaccinated because he already had COVID-19.
"Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection are dying in large numbers or being hospitalized or getting very sick, I just made my own personal decision that I'm not getting vaccinated because I've already had the disease and I have natural immunity," Paul said in an interview Sunday on WABC's radio show "The Cats Roundtable."
Paul, an ophthalmologist, was the first-known senator to be diagnosed with COVID-19 when he contracted the virus in March 2020.
The senator's stance goes against the Centers for Disease Control's recommendations that those who have already had COVID-19 nonetheless get vaccinated. According to the CDC, experts are uncertain how long natural immunity lasts. There is also a rare risk that those who've already had COVID-19 could become infected again.
He has frequently clashed with Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden and touched on the topic during his interview on Sunday. "We've had round after round," Paul admitted.
Paul added that he believes no one should be forced to be vaccinated: "In a free country, you would think people would honor the idea that each individual would get to make the medical decision, that it wouldn't be a big brother coming to tell me what I have to do," Paul said.
Paul's remarks come as vaccine rates appear to be slowing across the country. Earlier this month, CBS News found that many states weren't ordering all the available COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to them by the federal government.