Hochul told the Christian Cultural Center congregants they were “the smart ones” for being vaccinated. The Governor also said that those who have chosen not to get vaccinated aren’t listening to God and aren’t following what God wants.
Mirroring Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:16-20 when He commissioned His disciples to go out into the world and teach them all He commanded, Hochul called on the church to be her “apostles” and go out and “talk about it,” pleading with the unvaccinated to receive the vaccine because we “owe this to each other.”
“Jesus taught us to love one another,” Hochul said. “How do you show that love but to care about each other enough to say, please get vaccinated because I love you. I want you to live. I want our kids to be safe when they’re in schools. I want you to be safe when you go to a doctor’s office or to a hospital.”
The governor went on to caution listeners about the dangers of unvaccinated healthcare workers giving the virus to patients. “You don’t want to get the virus from them. You’re already sick or you wouldn’t be there. We have to solve this, my friends.” New York’s current mandate requires all healthcare workers without a doctor-approved medical exemption to be vaccinated, or they will be terminated without being able to collect unemployment benefits.
“I need you,” Hochul stressed. “Let them know that this is how we can fight this pandemic, come back to normal, and then start talking about the real issues that we have to.”
The governor then turned her attention to systemic racial injustice, urging listeners to recognize its existence. “If there’s a denier, I will take you on any day, because I’ve seen it.” She vowed that under her watch as New York’s governor, the state would not turn “a blind eye to this ever again.”
Watch her Christian Cultural Center speech below:
