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The Senate’s top Republican said Monday that “confusion” related to the 2020 presidential election may explain why Republican men are more hesitant to get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.
Speaking at a health-care event in his home state of Kentucky, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I think there was some confusion because of the election year, last year, created for Republican men.”
A poll conducted in early March by NPR/PBS News and Marist University found Republican men and Trump 2020 voters as being the least interested in getting vaccinated, with 49% and 47%, respectively, saying they did not plan on getting the shot when it becomes available to them.
Some experts have worried that the rate of vaccinations nationally could slow, even as eligibility standards are loosened, because of hesitancy by some sectors of the population. President Joe Biden announced Monday that 90% of the adult population in the U.S. will be eligible for a shot by April 19.
McConnell said he did not hesitate to get his vaccination and urged other Republican men to get a shot.
“I can say, as a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that,” he said.
“I would encourage all men, regardless of party affiliation, to get the vaccination,” he said.
