During a Sunday appearance on New York City WABC 770 AM radio’s “The Cats Roundtable,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he would not receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Paul, a physician, acknowledged that people have the right to make their own decision regarding the vaccine. The Kentucky senator explained he has natural immunity from having been diagnosed with COVID.
“You know, I think medical decisions in a free society each individual assesses their own risk,” Paul advised. “The thing is if someone chooses not to be vaccinated and you are vaccinated, they are not a risk to you. They are taking a risk for themselves. So I think, really, medical decisions should be private. In fact, we used to all believe that. There is a law called HIPPA that really says we’re … not supposed to pry into the medical affairs of our employees.”
He added, “[U]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 now. … In a free country, you would think people would honor, you know, the idea that each individual would get to make their medical decisions, that it wouldn’t be a big brother coming in telling me, you know, what I have to do. Are they also going to tell me I can’t have a cheeseburger for lunch? Are they going to tell me that I have to eat carrots only and, you know, cut my calories? All that would probably be good for me, but I don’t think big brother ought to tell me to do it.”
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