Matthew McConaughey opposes vaccine mandate for children in speech suggesting political ambitions

‘Right now, I’m not vaccinating mine, I’ll tell you that’

Matthew McConaughey is against mandating Covid-19 vaccines for younger children, in remarks that nudge towards the actor’s apparent interest in entering politics.

The 52-year-old actor said at The New York Times DealBook summit on Tuesday (9 November) he’s not against vaccinations but “couldn’t mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids” without more information.

The Interstellar actor added that both he and his wife are fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus and that they “chose” to receive the shots instead of being told to get them.

“Do I think that there’s any kind of scam or conspiracy theory? Hell no,” McConaughey said. “We all got to get off that narrative. There’s not a conspiracy theory on the vaccines,” he added.

Despite that, he said he will wait to find out more about the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines for young children before signing up his own kids.

“Right now, I’m not vaccinating mine, I’ll tell you that,” the Academy Award winner said.

On 29 October, the US’s Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for emergency use in children between the ages of five and 11.

McConaughey said he had “quarantined harder” than his friends throughout the pandemic and that his family relied on a “heavy amount” of Covid-19 testing to limit the chances of infection.

He, however, understood that “not everyone can do that.”

McConaughey also discussed Texas’s “unethical” and “inhumane” six-week abortion ban, calling it “overly aggressive.”

Noting that the controversial law restricts “sensible choice,” he said: “I believe in this: more responsibility, more personal responsibility to make the right choices. And we got to pick context with each situation, and each person’s situation, each woman’s situation.”

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In the past, McConaughey has expressed an interest in running for governor of his home state, Texas.

The acclaimed performer, who resides in the Texas capital of Austin, has not publicly committed to a political career.

In a conversation with NPR on 8 October, McConaughey ambiguously said, “I am not — until I am,” when asked whether he would be contesting elections in the Lone Star state.

He’s also said earlier that running for the elections from the state next year would be “an honest consideration.”

An opinion poll from The Dallas Morning News and University of Texas conducted in September, showed McConaughey as a hypothetical candidate for the elections.

The Dazed and Confused actor led current governor Greg Abbott, who has faced criticism for signing the Texas abortion bill into law and for his handling of the pandemic, by 44 per cent to 35 per cent.