Topline
Matthew McConaughey doesn’t support mandating vaccination against Covid-19 for children and hasn’t vaccinated some of his kids yet, he told the New York Times on Tuesday, as the actor publicly weighs a run for political office — a gambit he said he’s taking seriously.
Key Facts
McConaughey told the Times at its DealBook Summit that his children aren’t vaccinated yet, and he doesn’t support mandatory vaccinations for younger children yet, saying he “still want[s] to find out more information” (federal health officials say side-effects from the coronavirus vaccines are rare, including in children ages 5 to 11, who became eligible for Pfizer’s vaccine last week).
The actor and his wife are vaccinated against the coronavirus, partly because his 90-year-old mother is immunocompromised and faces a heightened risk from Covid-19.
Some of McConaughey’s older children are also vaccinated, the Times says.
McConaughey — who has hinted for months that he’s mulling a run for Texas governor — didn’t clarify his future political plans, but he insisted to the Times his interest in politics is sincere: “If I’m teasing it … then I’m teasing myself,” he said.
Tangent
McConaughey has backed Covid-19 vaccination efforts: In April, he and several other celebrities participated in a vaccine-focused special on NBC.
Contra
Despite his skepticism of vaccine mandates, McConaughey said mask-wearing seemed like a “quick and easy mandate” at the pandemic’s outset, calling it a “small inconvenience for possible long-term freedom.”
Key Background
A Texas native who starred in Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey has told reporters several times in the last year he’s interested in running for governor of Texas. The actor hasn’t been especially politically active: He has not voted in a Texas primary election since at least 2012 and doesn’t have any state or federal political donation records, the Texas Tribune reported in March, and McConaughey didn’t specify whether he’d run as a Democrat, Republican or independent in Tuesday’s interview with the Times. Still, one poll from September showed McConaughey would win in a two-way race with current Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
