White House thanks McConnell for leadership on vaccinations

The White House thanked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday for his leadership in the coronavirus vaccine rollout.

The White House Twitter account responded to a video from ABC News in which McConnell called for Republican men to overcome reported vaccine hesitancy. It’s the third time in recent days that McConnell has made such comments, amid polls showing GOP male voters are less likely to get vaccinated.

“I saw on some program last week that Republican men, curiously enough, might be reluctant to take the vaccine. I’m a Republican man, and I want to say to everyone: we need to take this vaccine. These reservations need to be put aside,” McConnell said in the video.

“Senator McConnell is right — and we thank him for his leadership. It’s important every American do their part and get vaccinated when it’s their turn,” the White House wrote.

Senator McConnell is right — and we thank him for his leadership. It’s important every American do their part and get vaccinated when it’s their turn. https://t.co/EaFt3WfwLW

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 5, 2021

A survey conducted by the The Kaiser Family Foundation found that although vaccine enthusiasm has continued to rise across multiple different groups, 30 percent of Republicans in March said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated, indicating little change from the month prior in February.

Echoing what several leading health experts have said, McConnell stated that herd immunity has to be reached in order to end the pandemic, urging people to get the vaccine order to reach the 75 percent threshold that is needed.

“As a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that,” McConnell said during an event in Kentucky to promote vaccine use. “So there’s no good argument not to get the vaccination. I would encourage all men, regardless of party affiliation, to get the vaccination.”

Multiple polls have shown that Republicans lag behind most other groups when it comes to willingness to get immunized against the coronavirus.