Appearing at the New York Times’ DealBook summit on Tuesday, actor and potential Texas gubernatorial candidate Matthew McConaughey said that although he and his wife are vaccinated, he is opposed to vaccine mandates for children between the ages of 5 and 11. 

What You Need To Know

  • Appearing at the New York Times’ DealBook summit Tuesday, actor Matthew McConaughey said that although he and his wife are vaccinated, he does not support vaccine mandates for children

  • The actor further said he has not gotten two of his three children – ages 13, 11 and 8 – vaccinated

  • McConaughey's comments prompted U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy to say that children are susceptible to COVID-19 and that clinical trials have indicated vaccines are safe and effective for kids

  • McConaughey, an Austin, Texas, resident has hinted that he might run for governor of the state in 2022 but currently has no party affiliation and has not discussed which primary he would take part in

“I couldn’t mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids. I still want to find out more information,” McConaughey said. “I’m vaccinated. My wife’s vaccinated. I didn’t do it because someone told me I had to – [I] chose to do it.”

McConaughey, 52, has three children, ages 13, 11 and 8. He later clarified in an Instagram story that he only currently opposes mandates for children between the ages of 5 and 11 and that his 13-year-old child is in fact fully vaccinated. 

The actor’s comments came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization to Pfizer’s COVID-19 for children between the ages of 5 and 11.  

McConaughey’s comments prompted a response from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy who said that children are vulnerable to the virus and that clinical trials show that the vaccine is safe and effective for younger children.

"Many kids have died. Sadly, hundreds of children - thousands - have been hospitalized, and as a dad of a child who has been hospitalized several years ago for another illness, I would never wish upon any parent they have a child that ends up in the hospital," Murthy said on CNN. "And the vaccines have shown in these trials for children 5 through 11 they are more at 90% effective in protecting our kids from symptomatic infection, and they are remarkably safe as well."

Still, McConaughey clarified he doesn’t think there’s any conspiracy surrounding vaccines.

"Do I think that there's any kind of scam or conspiracy theory? Hell no,” he said.

The actor, a resident of Austin, Texas, has discussed running for governor in 2022 but has yet to make anything official and has no party affiliation. He has said he would take a centrist approach to governing the state, however.

Although he has a great deal of name recognition, support for his candidacy in Texas is moderate, according to the results of a recently published poll by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Tribune.

The poll found that nearly a third of voters surveyed have neither a favorable nor unfavorable opinion of the actor, who has no previous experience in politics. It additionally found 35% of respondents had a favorable opinion of him and that 24% have an unfavorable opinion.