Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie shared his recommendation for convincing hesitant people to get vaccinated as he encouraged officials to put more effort into explaining how it works.
"The vaccines do work," Christie declared Sunday on ABC's "This Week. "Every focus group I've been in with Republicans who are not vaccinated, you have to walk them through the logic."
"What they don't want is to be indoctrinated," Christie continued. "They're willing to be vaccinated."
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He said the country's leaders have failed in their attempts to communicate the vaccine's importance.
"They're just saying, 'Get vaccinated,'" he complained.
The Republican and former Trump advisor described an interaction last week with an acquaintance who was hesitant to get vaccinated and didn't "want the government telling me what I have to do."
Christie called the man's balking a "libertarian response," to which he said he "walked him through the facts." So now, Christie claims, the man will get the shot to protect himself and his family.
"These folks do not respond to being ordered to do those things," Christie said. "I walked him through the facts of this and he said, 'OK, I'm going to go get vaccinated.' That's what we need to do."
The former governor said anyone receiving government-funded or assisted healthcare should get the vaccine because if not, "We are going to have to take care of you on the back end."
As the Delta variant rages through the U.S., public health officials have called this latest wave a "pandemic of the unvaccinated."
"I think politicians have to say what they need to say, but they're not the persuasive ones," he said in the interview. "It's the medical community and people who have had covid who can tell them what it's like to have it."
Last year, Christie was infected with Covid-19 and hospitalized.
