NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins Implores Evangelicals to Get Vaccine: ‘I Think God Works Through Science’

Appearing on Wednesday’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins encouraged white evangelicals who are reluctant to get the Covid-19 vaccine to do so.

Blitzer asked the atheist-turned-Christian, “As it comes to vaccine hesitancy, as it’s called, what would you say to encourage other people of faith to trust this miraculous vaccine?”

Collins replied:

Well, that’s a good question because it does sound as if particularly white evangelicals are particularly skeptical about this vaccine for various reasons. Some of them feel like this was rushed, but you know some people have had this vaccine in their system now for nine months so we’re getting a lot of information here and it looks really safe. 

Some people feel like, okay, why should I trust science, does that mean I’m not trusting God? I think God works through science in cases like this and we ought to celebrate that and give thanks to God’s grace that this kind of thing is possible.

“In case you don’t trust old white guys working for the government like me,” Collins added, “there’s lots of other information out there that can reassure you. It’s not like the data’s hard to find… It’s there, so don’t trust the social media, look at the reliable sites.”

The Washington Post recently documented how “extreme faith” and vaccine misinformation often go hand in hand.

A recent Pew Research poll showed that 45% of white evangelicals do not plan on getting the Covid vaccine, which is the highest rate of vaccine hesitancy among any religious demographic featured in the poll.

You can watch above, via CNN.