GOP doctors in Congress release video urging people to get vaccinated

A group of GOP lawmakers who are also physicians released a video on Tuesday urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine amid concerns about hesitancy from some Republicans. 

The video, led by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a doctor, features some of the lawmakers wearing white coats with stethoscopes around their necks speaking into the camera. 

“This vaccine is safe,” says Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), a heart surgeon. 

Some of the messages are particularly tailored to try to appeal to Republicans, pointing to the greater freedom that people can have once they are inoculated. 

Bucshon says the way “to end the government’s restrictions on our freedoms is to take action and get the vaccine.”

“The FDA did not skip any steps,” says Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), addressing one potential concern about the vaccine. 

Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) pointed to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, which developed the vaccines but has become a phrase the Biden administration has stopped using. 

“Operation Warp Speed brought us safe and effective vaccines, and all in record time,” Joyce said. 

Boosting vaccine uptake among Republicans is a key focus going forward, given that polls show they have higher resistance to the idea. In a CBS-YouGov poll released Monday, 30 percent of Republicans said they would not get the vaccine and another 19 percent said they only “maybe” would do so.

Former President Trump has said people should get the vaccine, though CNN reported Tuesday that some of his advisers have been urging him to make a public service announcement to make the case more prominently. Trump was the only former president not to appear in a previous PSAs encouraging vaccine use.