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'Doctor' Matthew McConaughey slammed for saying he won't vaccinate his kids 'right now'

McConaughey, 52, married model Camila Alves in June 2012 and has three children with her, the youngest being 9-years-old

Matthew McConaughey sparked an uproar after voicing concerns about vaccine mandates for children, revealing that he will not be vaccinating his children for now.

McConaughey, 52, married model Camila Alves in June 2012 and has three children with her, the youngest being 9-years-old. The Austin, Texas resident has mulled the possibility of running for governor of the state and shared his take on vaccine mandates during a New York Times DealBook summit interview. McConaughey admitted that he's not against vaccines but wants "more information" before having his children take the jab. The actor said he and his wife got vaccinated because his 90-year-old at-risk mother is living with them.

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"I'm vaccinated. My wife's vaccinated. I didn't do it because someone told me I had to — [I] chose to do it," McConaughey told the Times's Andrew Ross Sorkin. “I couldn’t mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids,” he noted. “I still want to find out more information. There’s going to come a time, though, and there has already in these last two years obviously — there will come a time where you’re going to have to roll the dice one way or the other and go: ‘Where are the numbers in my favor?’”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 5 years old after clinical trials with about 3,000 children. This prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to deem the vaccines “safe for children.” San Francisco took the lead in announcing its plans to mandate vaccines for children 5 and up and requiring proof of vaccine for some indoor activities in the near future.

However, McConaughey said he believes we are “living in the pandemic world for the rest of time” and advocated coronavirus testing while acknowledging that the vaccines had their own flaws. “A vaccinated person can spread it just as well as an unvaccinated person, but there is some proof that if you’re vaccinated and you get Covid your symptoms won’t be as harsh,” the actor said. “But you can spread it just as well, okay. So this is a moving target.”

“I want to trust in the science," he continued. "Do I think that there’s any kind of scam or conspiracy theory? Hell no, I don’t. No, I don’t think there’s any kind of — we all got to get off that narrative, There’s not a conspiracy theory on the vaccines, these are scientists trying to do the right thing.” But the actor admitted that the prospect of vaccinating his children at this stage was "scary." He added, “Right now, I’m not vaccinating mine (children). I’ll tell you that."

Social media was divided on McConaughey's take. Some deemed his concerns irresponsible and joked about his potential gubernatorial candidacy.

"Matthew McConaughey just came out against vaccine mandates for kids. It looks like he's running for Governor of Texas," one tweeted.

"Why, the f**k is anyone asking Matthew McConaughey for public health advice? Vaccines for kids are the most amazing thing we’ve done all & we should all be celebrating! Personally, I am coming out against Matthew McConaughey, now," a comment read.

"Matthew McConaughey goes anti-vaccine mandate for kids. He will not have his three children, ages 8, 11, and 13 vaccinated. In case you didn’t know, in addition to being an actor, McConaughey is also a scientist and doctor," another added.
 

Others, however, praised the Academy Award-winning star for standing his ground.

"How is Matthew McConaughey's position even controversial?!? The doctors in the FDA advisory meeting shared the same concerns about mandating the vaccine for children," one tweeted.

"I swear ppl doing too much. He said he wanted to wait to make sure vax really safe for young kids & they done turned him into an anti-vax MAGA bro," another wrote.

"This is just common sense. No one would’ve made their kids get an experimental vaccine, with no knowledge of the long-term side effects," a comment read.

"I'm vaxxed. I have no problem with being vaccinated. The govt has no right to impose this on us, especially when it's proving to be somewhat ineffective," someone else added.
 
"Alright alright alright but speak out about the vax in adults as well," another chimed in.