Franklin Graham Pleads with Fellow Evangelicals to Get Vaccinated on CNN: ‘I Thank God for the Vaccine’
Evangelical leader Franklin Graham made a rare appearance on CNN Monday night in an effort to reach out to vaccine-hesitant viewers, particularly those who share his faith. Wolf Blitzer kicked off the segment by noting a Pew poll showing that 45% of White evangelicals said they will not get the Covid-19 vaccine.
“So,” began Blitzer, “what’s your message to fellow evangelicals who are still very hesitant to get this potentially life-saving vaccine?”
Graham noted that plenty of non-evangelicals are also skeptical of the vaccine, but then addressed his intended audience:
When Jesus started his ministry, he went about preaching and he used his power as the Son of God to bring healing to people’s bodies. And he didn’t do it so they’d have a better life. He did it so they’d put their faith and trust in him as the Son of God. And as a Christian, I think it’s important that we model our ministry after that of Jesus Christ. We want to try to bring healing to people’s bodies, and we can do that through modern medicine.
“I thank God for the vaccine,” he said.
Blitzer asked Graham, who is an acquaintance of Donald Trump and previously rpaised him as a “great” president, if he had encouraged the former president to urge his supporters to get vaccinated. Graham responded he hadn’t spoken to Trump about the issue, but that he’d encourage him to do so.
“There’s no downside for him to do this,” Graham said. “I think it’d be a very easy thing and I might try to get a hold of him even tonight and say something to him.”
“Please do,” said Blitzer. “Because he has a lot of influence out there and he could save a lot of lives by doing what you are doing, speaking out publicly, it would be so, so important.”
Last month, Blitzer hosted Dr. Francis Collins, a Christian and the head of the National Institutes of Health, to deliver a similar message to vaccine-hesitant believers.
Watch above via CNN.
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