Exasperated West Virginia governor takes aim at 'crazy' anti-vaccine ideas
West Virgnia's Gov. Jim Justice (R) seems to be losing patience with COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theorists.
During a televised address on Wednesday, he rebuked them in exasperated fashion, asking "why in the world do we have to come up with these crazy ideas? And they're crazy ideas." He singled out one well-known, but baseless theory that the vaccines contain microchips which allow the government to track people who receive the shots. "The same very people that are saying that are carrying their cell phones around," he noted. "I mean, come on."
This isn't the first time Justice has bluntly dismissed such conspiracy theories, and he also wasn't the only Republican to speak on the issue in a forthright manner on Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who like Justice has consistently urged his constituents to get vaccinated, said arguments claiming the vaccines don't work "frequently are nonsense."
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