Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to run radio ads on more than 100 Kentucky radio stations in the coming days urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The 60-second spot will be paid for by McConnell’s reelection campaign and will draw on his experience surviving polio as a child, according to a source familiar with the ad. The senator’s plans were first reported by Reuters.
“Every American should take advantage of this miracle, and get vaccinated,” McConnell says in the ad, according to a script obtained by HuffPost. “It’s the only way we’re going to defeat COVID. This is not complicated. 97% of people hospitalized for COVID are not vaccinated.”
“If you haven’t been vaccinated, do the right thing for you ― for your family ― and get vaccinated right now,” the senator continues.
McConnell has been one of the most outspoken GOP senators on getting vaccinated to protect against the coronavirus. He was an early voice on the right hailing the vaccine as a lifesaver even as some of his fellow Republicans took a more cautious approach by stressing the decision of whether to get a shot should be left up to individuals.
Asked Tuesday about new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance directing all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks in public indoor settings in areas with a high likelihood of virus transmission, a decision some Republicans are protesting, McConnell reiterated his message. “Everybody needs to get vaccinated,” he told HuffPost.
A growing number of Republican lawmakers and conservative media personalities have been urging Americans to get vaccinated in recent weeks as the highly contagious delta variant has surged across the country, particularly in red states.
But vaccine hesitancy and skepticism continue to be rampant among a segment of the population. Some GOP lawmakers have stoked opposition to the vaccines by questioning their efficacy and their effects on some people.