The two GOP Congressmen representing central and west-central Illinois are urging constituents to get the vaccine. 18th District Congressman Darin LaHood and 13th District Representative Rodney Davis both toured COVID Vaccination Distribution sites in Central Illinois this week.
LaHood toured the Morgan County Vaccine Clinic at Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville on Wednesday. Passavant CEO Dr. Scott Boston told the congressman during his tour that the biggest obstacle facing their efforts now is not so much vaccine availability, it’s vaccine hesitation.
LaHood told WLDS news following the tour that he proudly received the vaccine, and he feels everyone should get vaccinated sooner rather than later. He says skeptics should do their own research and ask those they trust.
“Don’t listen to politicians, listen to your doctor, listen to your medical professionals, listen to your nurses, people you respect in medicine; ad universally people will tell you this is the right thing to do. What I would tell people is not to listen to conspiracy theories or hoaxes or these other things.
Talk to people who have had the vaccine whether you’re a senior citizen, whether you’re a middle-aged person, or whether you’re a younger person, and talk to them about how beneficial it is.
As we think about getting the country back to normal, we all want to be normal again. We want to be back at sporting events, we want to be back at restaurants, we want to be doing things like we did before. That happens when we get the vaccine distributed and people to get it in their arms. So I’m just again encouraging people to rely on the medical science and their doctors and their nurses when it comes to making this decision.”
Yesterday Congressman Davis toured the State’s mass vaccination site in the Orr Building at the State Fairgrounds. He told the State Journal-Register he wants to help reduce vaccine hesitancy regardless of political affiliation. He says state-run sites like those he toured in Springfield and Collinsville have averaged 2,000 doses administered a day.
“At that rate, we’re going to continue to get everyone vaccinated that we can as high of a percentage as we can and that means we can open up sooner. That means the lockdown put forth by state officials, we have a better chance of getting that lifted at a time where the state leaders don’t seem like they want to that.
So my message is go get a vaccine. It’s one hundred percent effective according to experts against any hospitalization. Please go do it, it’s going to get our communities open sooner, and make sure that as they become available you just sign up and go get it done.”
Davis had COVID-19 last year and says, in the end, it is up to the individual whether to get the vaccine, however, he says after his experience, he’s encouraging everyone to go get it done.
“Look I had the disease back in August. Scientists and those in charge say I’ve developed some sort of immunity but when I saw there were people in the medical community that still weren’t getting the vaccine I went ahead and got mine back in February just to be able to tell them, hey here’s my experience.
Go get it, get it done so we can open up sooner, and get people back into our long-term care facilities. To see our grandmas and our grandpas and our relatives who have waited an entire year without being able to be held by their grandkids. That’s what we need to do, we need to make sure everyone is encouraged to do that and get it done.”
Davis told the SJR he thinks it is not a good idea for Republicans to be skeptical of vaccines just as now Vice President Kamala Harris said last year when the vaccine was still being developed under then President Trump.
According to the SJR report, a new nationwide poll showed Republicans were three times more likely to avoid getting the vaccine than Democrats.