Republican Steve Scalise Explains Why He Just Got Vaccinated After Holding Out

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House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) received the first dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday despite the fact that its been widely available for some time, especially for members of Congress.

Cases of Covid-19 and hospitalizations have spiked in Scalise’s home state of Louisiana thanks in large part to just 36% of its population being fully vaccinated. Nationally, 49% of the population is fully vaccinated.

The congressman said he believes he had a mild case of Covid-19 at one point, and that he tested positive for Covid antibodies. He thought this gave him a degree of immunity to the disease, but the spread of the delta variant helped change his mind on getting the vaccine.

“Especially with the delta variant becoming a lot more aggressive and seeing another spike, it was a good time to do it,” Scalise told NOLA.

Scalise blamed vaccine hesitancy in part on Joe Biden for criticizing the pace of the vaccine rollout last year, according to The New York Times. That talking point has gained some momentum on the right. Echoing Scalise, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) claimed that some vaccine skeptical Americans are refusing to get shots until “this administration acknowledges the efforts of the last one.”

And on Monday. Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen said on Fox News that one reason Trump supporters aren’t getting vaccinated “is because Joe Biden keeps playing down Donald Trump’s role in developing the vaccines.”

Scalise said, per the Times, “You’re seeing some people try to bully people into doing things instead of just encouraging them.” He added, “There’s even talk of putting mask mandates back on people in certain states when the vaccine is widely available.”

He called the vaccine “safe and effective.”