Matthew McConaugheyis clarifying his stance on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for kids.
On Wednesday, the 52-year-old actor shared a message on his Instagram Story to clear up a misunderstanding after he said earlier this week that he wants “to find out more information” before supporting any requirements that young children get the shot.
“When asked my opinion on the subject of children and vaccination mandates I stated, ‘I couldn’t mandate it for kids just yet.’ What was not clear is that I was referring specifically to the 5-11 year old mandate,” he explained.
McConaughey continued, “What is NOT true, and insinuated with the clickbait headlines since, is that I am against vaccinating children at all. This is false. In fact, our eldest 13-year-old son Levi is fully vaccinated for COVID-19.”
Matthew McConaughey Instagram
Last Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Controlformally authorized Pfizer’s vaccine for usein children ages 5 to 11 and inoculations began across the country the next day.
On Tuesday, McConaughey — who is fully vaccinated — said duringThe New York Times’s DealBook summitthat he isn’t anti-vaccine but was not fully in support of a vaccine mandate for young children yet.
“Do I think that there’s any kind of scam or conspiracy theory? Hell no I don’t. We all got to get off that narrative. There’s not a conspiracy theory on the vaccines,” theGreenlightsauthor continued.
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McConaughey and his wife Camila share sons Levi, 13, and Livingston, 8, and daughter Vida, 11. On Tuesday, he explained that the couple had chosen to “go slow” with vaccinating their children “even before COVID.”
“I couldn’t mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids. I still want to find out more information,” he said. “There’s gonna come a time, though — and there has already in these last two years, obviously — there’ll come a time where you’re gonna have to roll the dice one way or the other and go, where are the numbers in my favor? I’m vaccinated. Wife’s vaccinated. … We’re over here just trying to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible, but I couldn’t mandate it for kids just yet.”
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TheDallas Buyers Clubstar emphasized that he and his family have taken the pandemic seriously and have relied heavily on at-home testing to keep everyone safe — and stressed that his priority is protecting his elderly mother, who is immunocompromised and has been staying with them throughout the pandemic. He told theNYTthat they’ve “quarantined harder than any of our friends have and still are two years later.”
“I’m in a position though where I can do that, and I understand not everyone can do that,” he said.
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So far,more than 360,000 kidswithin ages 5 to 11 have received their first dose of the vaccine.
While there is a large portion of parents who immediately went out to get their kids vaccinated,recent pollinghas found that around one-third are hesitant, and another third do not intend to vaccinate their kids. Some parents feel that it isn’t necessary for the young age group to get inoculated given they are less likely to develop a severe illness from COVID-19, but experts have warned that they can still have adverse outcomes, or pass the virus on to others.
Murray adds that “it’s also important to know that MIS-C, the severe post-COVID illness seen in children, is most common in this age group.”
Clinical trials for the vaccine found that there were no adverse side effects in kids aged 5 to 11, and that it was more than 90 percent effective in preventing even mild symptoms of COVID-19.
“I know that this is an incredibly safe vaccine that has saved lives, decreases illness, and once fully vaccinated will allow my kindergartner to have an extra layer of protection to keep her safe in school and when out in the world,” Murray says. “I wouldn’t recommend vaccinating your children if I wasn’t comfortable vaccinating my own.”
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source: people.com
