CNN reporter Elle Reeve returned to Van Buren, Missouri, where she visited in October 2020 for a report on how the town is handling the pandemic. In the fall, Reeve says the big debate was over masks. Now that Covid-19 vaccines have been developed and approved, they are now part of the discussion as well.
Reeve spoke to several residents, one of whom named Jim said he is going to get vaccinated after his wife died of Covid-19 recently. As he explained, “She said, ‘This is bad. You just all need the shot.’ And I think she’s right.”
Jim suggested Reeve talk to his friend who had gotten Covid and remains unvaccinated. “He hasn’t had the shot,” Jim explained. “But everywhere he goes, if he goes anyplace, he wears a mask.” He then called his friend Wayland Bland, who agreed to come over to be interviewed.
“Why do you not want the vaccine?” Reeve asked him.
“I ain’t takin’ that shit! I ain’t takin’ it!,” said Bland. “I don’t like people trying to push a shot on me.”
He was in the hospital with Covid for seven days, and said he was treated with a host of drugs, including ones given to former President Donald Trump after he contracted Covid-19.
“What’s the difference though between the vaccine and the drugs that you did take like Regeneron?” asked Reeve, referencing the name of a pharmaceutical company that makes drugs for a Covid treatment regimen.
“I woulda took anything,” he replied. “It wouldn’t have mattered what it was.”
“But why would you trust Regeneron and not the vaccine?” Reeve retorted.
“Well, the one thing is, they shafted my president,” said Wayland. “They would have had the vaccine–already had it, already had it, but they wouldn’t give it to him because they knew damn good well he would be reelected… so they had to swindle around and scare around and keep it from him, just as soon as the election was over, we got it.”
He added, “I ain’t taking your medicine. I’ll take what they gave him but I’m not taking yours.”
Reeve noted, “There’s no evidence for Wayland’s theory.”
In another interview, Reeve asked a woman if she’s thought about getting the vaccine.
“No way,” she said.
“Oh really,” said Reeve. “How come?”
“Because I don’t wanna get sick,” came the reply.
“And you think the vaccine would make you more sick?”
“Probably.”
Reeve also spoke with a man named Brian, with whom she spoke in October.
“No one feels like they can trust our government,” he explained.
Reeve asked if he’s gotten the vaccine. Brian smirked but didn’t respond.
“Please, Brian?” implored Reeve.
“It doesn’t matter whether I got the vaccine or not,” he said.
Eventually he answered her question.
“Corona doesn’t care who you are, whether you think you’re a big tough guy or whether you’re anything. It doesn’t matter. If you get it, it can kill you. End of story. I don’t want my wife to have to wonder when they put you in a medical-induced coma and stick a tube down your throat, is he going to come back out of that?
“That’s why I got a vaccine.”
*story by MEDIAite