‘Just Despicable’: Former Bush WH Medical Adviser Blasts GOP Congressman’s ‘Blatant Anti-Vax Nonsense’ for Refusing Covid Vaccine

The former medical adviser to the George W. Bush White House, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, lashed out at a GOP Congressman who publicly swore off getting the Covid-19 vaccine, citing his “freedom” and unspecified concerns over its safety.

During an appearance on CNN’s Erin Burnett Out Front, Reiner reacted when the eponymous host replayed footage of Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) on Fox News.

“So we saw the Senate and House Leaders Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi get their shots today, Vice President [Mike] Pence got his. So that’s all good,” Burnett noted. “There are, though, some that are behaving terribly. There is one person in Congress saying he won’t get it. Here is Republican Congressman Ken Buck today, what he said.”

“I’m an American,” Buck told Fox host Neil Cavuto. “I have the freedom to decide if I’m going to take a vaccine or not and in this case I am not going to take the vaccine. I’m more concerned about the safety of the vaccine than I am the side effects of the disease.”

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been reviewed and approved as safe by the FDA. And the “side effects” of the coronavirus include the risk of death — including more than 300,000 Americans killed so far — especially for those with co-morbidities like advanced age, asthma, or other health complications.

Back in March, just as the virus was spreading throughout the country, the 61-year-old Buck posted a video of himself showing off another of his freedoms, when he took down an assault rifle hanging on the wall of his office and then swung it wildly, pointing it directly at the person filming him at one point. He was dragged online for the cavalier and reckless example he set.

“What do you even say to that?” Burnett asked of Buck’s refusal to get inoculated for Covid-19. “The data and the science are there, right? So he’s just saying that he doesn’t believe it.”

“This is just ignorant, anti-vax, science denialism masquerading as libertarianism,” Reiner said. “The reason for a congressman to be vaccinated now is not simply to protect him from disease, it’s hopefully to protect his community from transmission. When you vaccinate someone hopefully you’re blocking the transmission of the virus and maybe most importantly now for a Member of Congress is to model the kind of behavior we want their constituents to adopt.”

“We’ve seen what happens when a leader does not adopt a consistent message for masks,” Reiner then added, taking a not-so-subtle jab at President Donald Trump  and his constant equivocating on the efficacy of masks. “How well did that turn out? To see a Congressman basically parrot just blatant anti-vax nonsense is just despicable.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.