Gianforte Plans to Get Vaccinated, Respects Those That Won't

On Thursday morning, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte appeared on KGVO’s Talk Back show and provided listeners with his monthly update. Montana and 20 other states are filing suit in federal court to stop President Biden from cancelling the Keystone XL oil pipeline and Gianforte shared some of his thoughts about that.

“Joe Biden is pandering to these environmental extremists on both coasts,” Gianforte said. “This is the best way to get this crude oil to market, it protects the environment, and it is going to generate much needed tax revenue to hire teachers. I heard from small business who are just devastated by this capricious stroke of a pen that caused thousands of jobs to disappear and this lifeline to go away.”

According to Gianforte, the COVID-19 pandemic has been his top priority since he became Governor of Montana and he believes the state is making great progress.

“We have gotten the vaccine to the most vulnerable and we have now taken care of our frontline healthcare workers,” Gianforte said. “Supplies are increasing and now it is time to get it to everybody. Starting on April 1^st, any adult in Montana can go get vaccinated. We are expanding the distribution side. So far, we have administered almost 400,000 doses here in the state of Montana. It was time to make it accessible to more folks.”

Gianforte said more vaccines should be coming to Montana soon because vaccine distributors are ramping up their production efforts.

“In the United States a month ago, we were producing about 10 million doses per week,” Gianforte said. “As of the first week of April, that number is going to be over 20 million does per week. They have more than doubled total output of vaccinations. We will make sure that we get our fair share. I would always like to have more, but the reality is that here shortly we will have received over 500,000 doses in the state of Montana and it is just going to get better and better.”

Many Americans have said they don’t plan on getting vaccinated for COVID-19 and Gianforte shared his opinion about that.

“This is a personal decision,” Gianforte said. “I respect those that say they are not going to get one. I personally am going to get one. In the polling we have done, it is not unlike the flu vaccine. I know these vaccines are safe and effective. When my turn comes up, I am going to get one. I think about 70% of folks say they are willing to get one. This is just a way to care for yourself and people around you.”

You can listen to Gianforte’s entire update below.

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