Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday urged more Americans to receive a COVID-19 vaccination but acknowledged he was "perplexed" by the persistent reluctance among some of his colleagues to be vaccinated.
"I'm a huge fan of vaccinations as a polio victim myself when I was young," McConnell told reporters in a Capitol news conference, a video from The Washington Post shows.
McConnell, who underwent extensive treatment for polio as a boy to walk, said he was perplexed by the hesitation of some to get a COVID-19 vaccination. "I'm perplexed by the difficulty we have in finishing the job."
"It took 70 years — 70 years," McConnell reiterated, "to come up with two vaccines [to end polio]. As a result of Operation Warp Speed ... we have three highly effective vaccines."
According to PBS polling, 41% of Republicans do not plan to get vaccinated, compared with 4% of Democrats who refuse to be vaccinated.
"We're in the red zone, but we're not in the end zone yet," he lamented.
"We need to finish the job, and part of it is just convincing the American people of the importance of doing this," McConnell added.
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt appeared alongside McConnell, echoing the Kentucky senator's sentiment. "We are not nearly in as bad of a place as we were, but we're not nearly in as good a place as we would all like to be," Blunt said.
The comments come after the Biden administration fell just short of its goal of getting 70% of American adults vaccinated before July Fourth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67.7% of American adults have been vaccinated so far.
Some GOP members have come out against the Biden administration over mentions of door-to-door outreach in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.