Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Tuesday offered further critiques of vaccine mandates, reacting to the story of a priest telling unvaccinated people they should not attend holiday church services, prompting the senator to ask if Jesus would have done the same.

During a Christmas Eve appearance on CNN, Father Edward Beck stated that “the unvaccinated” should not attend holiday church services, equating getting the vaccine to following Jesus’s lead in “caring for one another.”

“There is no supply chain shortage of love and compassion. I think that what we’re trying to say to people is they you have a social responsibility if you do gather, you know Christian churches many are gathering this evening and some are still not requiring vaccination, which I disagree with,” Beck said during the segment, equating getting the vaccine to acting in a Jesus-like manner:
I think part of caring for one another, the dictum of Jesus who we celebrate his birthday, is love one another. Show compassion. Show mercy to each other. So I think the lesson is that if we want to act like Jesus in these kind of times we take care of each other and if we’re going to gather in celebration we have to do so safely, comfortably and we have to give to one another that gift of peace and part of that is health and feeling like we’re gathering in a healthy environment.
Even though vaccinated individuals spread the virus as well, that did not stop Beck from adding, “I don’t think there’s a reason to say I’m not going to get vaccinated, maybe for a health reason, then you can’t come to church.” He was clearly proud of that declaration as well, as he reemphasized it on Twitter.
“Yep. I said it. I don’t think unvaccinated people should be gathering in churches for Christmas Eve / Day Masses. ‘Love thy neighbor,’ says the Savior,” he said:

“Hmmm…Hard to imagine Jesus demanding papers to attend the sermon on the mount after just healing a leper,” Paul said in response to the story:

Paul has continued to question Dr. Anthony Fauci and the handling of the pandemic over recent months, asserting this week that thousands have likely died due to Fauci deemphasizing the importance of therapeutics in treating the virus: