For the past few months, Matthew McConaughey has publicly flirted with the idea of launching a run for governor of Texas, yet has said little during that time that could be considered a platform.
That may be starting to change, given a new interview the “Magic Mike” star gave during Tuesday’s virtual New York Times Dealbook conference.
During the conversation, reported The Hill, McConaughey said he would not support government-mandated COVID-19 vaccination for children, even though he and his wife are vaccinated.
“I couldn’t mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids. I still want to find out more information,” he said, despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizing Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11 last week.
“I’m vaccinated. My wife’s vaccinated. I didn’t do it because someone told me I had to — [I] chose to do it,” he explained.
“Do I think that there’s any kind of scam or conspiracy theory?” he asked. “Hell no. We all got to get off that narrative. There’s not a conspiracy theory on the vaccines.”
As for his own children, however, he stated: “Right now I’m not vaccinating mine, I’ll tell you that.”
But in a post on his Instagram Story, McConaughey clarified his stance on vaccinating children, explaining that his comments were specifically about children aged 5 to 11.
“When asked my opinion on the subject of children and vaccination mandates I stated, ‘I couldn’t mandate it for kids just yet.’ What was not clear is that I was referring specifically to the 5-11 year old mandate,” he said. “What is NOT true, and insinuated with the clickbait headlines since, is that I am against vaccinating children at all. This is false. In fact, our eldest 13-year-old son Levi is fully vaccinated for COVID-19.”
The actor added, “I appreciate the ear and clarity,” telling his followers to “just keep livin’.”
READ MORE: Matthew McConaughey ‘Making Calls’ As He Quietly Explores Running For Governor Of Texas
Meanwhile, Yahoo! Finance recently reported that the Oscar winner also offered his solution to heal the vast political divide between left and right in American politics.
“I think our country, state, needs to be aggressively centric now,” he said. “It’s a daring place to go, it’s a radical move right now.”
As for whether he’ll actually throw his hat into the ring, he added: “Trust me, I’m spending a good amount of time deliberating and really working my mind, heart and spirit on the questions.”
