Rand Paul: I Wouldn’t Vaccinate My Children for COVID Over Myocarditis Risks

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks in Washington on Dec. 20, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that he wouldn’t vaccinate his own children for COVID-19 due to numerous studies reporting an elevated risk of myocarditis—a type of heart inflammation—occurring after vaccination.

Paul expressed concerns about heart inflammation risks for children during an interview on The Hill’s “Rising,” arguing that experiencing an adverse reaction after COVID-19 vaccination is higher versus when getting infected with the virus.

“I, frankly, wouldn’t vaccinate my children for COVID,” the Republican senator said. “I think the risks of the vaccine are greater than the risks of the disease. The risks of the disease are almost non-existent.”

Paul’s suggestion to parents who are still thinking about getting their children vaccinated is to lower the number of doses, explaining that there’s a higher risk of myocarditis among young people, especially men, after the second dose.

“But, let’s say your position is something in between, you think three [doses] are too many—what about one?” he said.

“Well, 90 percent of the myocarditis … comes after the second vaccine,” he added. “If your kids already had COVID, I don’t think they need it at all, but let’s say you want to give them a vaccine, why not one [dose] instead of three?”

‘Increased Risk’

During Thursday’s interview, Paul also accused Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel of lying after he claimed during a hearing on Wednesday that boys aged 16 to 24 who took the COVID-19 vaccine have a smaller risk of myocarditis when compared to those infected with the virus.

“That is not true,” Paul told Bancel before proceeding to enter into evidence peer-reviewed research from the Journal of Vaccines and Annals of Medicine stating “the complete opposite” of the CEO’s data.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 22, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“I also spoke with your president just last week and he readily acknowledged in private that, yes, there is an increased risk of myocarditis,” the lawmaker continued, adding “The fact that you can’t say it in public is quite disturbing.”

When Paul was asked to comment on Bancel going against what peer-reviewed research has found, the senator said he guesses the Moderna CEO “saw this as a business decision that might hurt sales.”

“He just seemed more evasive than he was truthful,” Paul told Fox News Digital. “I was really surprised that he wasn’t more forthright. I mean, it’s not like this is some kind of hidden knowledge. It’s been out there for a while.”

“We put into the record six journal articles that have been peer-reviewed, talking about an enhanced or increased risk of myocarditis,” he continued. “I guess I was disappointed that he wasn’t more forthcoming with it.”

On Wednesday, Bancel appeared before a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, where he spoke in the defense of the company’s decision to drastically increase the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Moderna has proposed that when the government stops its involvement with the procurement and delivery of the vaccine, the price will increase to $130 per dose, which is roughly four times the price at which it was sold to the government during the pandemic.

Post-Vaccination Heart Injuries

The phenomenon of heart inflammation after COVID-19 vaccination has already been noted by many medical professionals and others investigating the matter.

A recent study that was published in the British Medical Journal in February seems to confirm that heart failure, and even death, have occurred among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine.

The likelihood of heart injury is also thought to be higher after being infected with COVID-19. This is primarily due to inflammation that the virus causes inside the body.

In the study, researchers found that more people experienced myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination than after COVID-19 infection—530 versus 109. The data covered people aged 12 and up who had myocarditis listed as a primary or secondary diagnosis for hospital admission since the start of the pandemic.

According to the American Heart Association, citing research from Israel, the risk of young men—aged 16 to 19—developing myocarditis occurs in about 1 in 15,000 people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meanwhile, recommends children as young as six months old take COVID-19 vaccines, including one updated booster dose. The agency says adverse reactions, or serious health problems, are rare, but “can cause long-term health problems.”

From NTD News