A Louisiana man who contracted covid and ended up in the hospital said he’d rather be sick than get vaccinated against the virus.
Scott Roe, a small business owner who contracted COVID and developed pneumonia told CBS News that the vaccines have too many issues so he’d rather be sick.
“Here I am recovering, getting out of here finally tomorrow. Am I going to get a vaccine? No,” Roe who is a Republican said. “Because there’s too many issues with these vaccines.”
Asked if he would have taken the vaccine before he got sick to prevent his hospitalization, Roe said “no”.
“I would have gone through this. Don’t shove it down my throat. That’s what local, state, federal administration is trying to do – shove it down your throat,” he added.
Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise (R) got his first shot of the Pfizer covid vaccine on Sunday even though the vaccine has been available for months.
Scalise told The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate that part of his reason for waiting so long to get vaccinated was he thought he had some immunity because he tested positive awhile back for antibodies to the coronavirus.
“It’s safe and effective,” Scalise said of the vaccine. “It was heavily tested on thousands of people before the FDA gave its approval. Some people believe that it might have been rushed. That’s not the case. I’ve been vocal about that for months. I know their process has high standards. The FDA approval process is probably the most respected in the world.”
Roe told CBS he knows Scalise “very well” but was not aware that he had come out in support of vaccines. Still, even though the congressman said the vaccines are safe and effective Roe is not convinced.
Roughly one in three Louisianans are fully vaccinated. This week, the state’s health department reported the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since late February, CBS reported.
“We are either going to get vaccinated and end the pandemic. Or we are going to accept death,” Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer at Louisiana’s largest private hospital said. “We’re a proud state. We are a state of people full of grit. So if you’re pro-vax, you’re going to tell everybody. If you’re not, you’re going to do the same thing. So how do we help find something that helps them come to the understanding that your community’s going to die?”
