Outgoing Arkansas Governor asa Hutchinson took a swipe at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” declaring that he should not “undermine science” by trying to regulate the COVID vaccine.
NBC anchor Chuck Todd said to Hutchinson, “You spent a lot of 2021 trying to get some skeptics to take the backseat in Arkansas, so I’m curious what you think of this:”
He then played a clip of DeSantis stating, “Like anything, you take an MRNA shot, the way to view it is what are the benefits and the drawbacks? It seems like our medical establishment never wanted to be honest with people about the potential drawbacks.”
The governor was discussing Florida’s Supreme Court convening a grand jury to investigate covid vaccine wrongdoings.
“The Florida governor is leaning into vaccine skepticism at a time when I know health officials are trying to get people to take these boosters so we can prevent the 300 deaths a day that we’re still averaging in America. Do you have any thoughts?” Todd pressed.
Hutchinson replied, “We shouldn’t undermine science and the medical community that’s important to our public health. Whenever you look at how I handled the pandemic in Arkansas, we didn’t have mandates of government forcing people to take the vaccine, but I did go out into the communities.”
WATCH:
WATCH: In a reversal from a prior view, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is now calling into question the proven efficacy of Covid vaccines.
"We shouldn't undermine science," @AsaHutchinson (R-Ark.) says: "We are not good as a society … if we diminish the facts." pic.twitter.com/DetKJyQvTi
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 18, 2022
He continued, “I had the medical experts educating them as to how this that is beneficial. I had local community doctors addressing that. I think we’re not good as a society. It’s not the right direction if we diminish the facts, diminish all the best information we have from science at the time. Sure, during the pandemic, things changed from time to time we had to adjust. That’s what leaders do.”
Hutchinson added, “But I don’t think it’s good to go back, whether you’re going back to the 2020 election or going back and trying to relegate everything that happened. That’s not helpful for where we are. We do need to make sure we get the protection. Whether it’s a flu shot or COVID vaccine, everybody makes their own decision. I’m for the education and science behind it.”
He’s right on one thing: “everybody makes their own decision.”
And that is the way it should remain. If you want the vaccine, go for it. However, it should never be forced upon people, like me, who do not want it.
