"I got the vaccine on the advice of my doctor," Todd Starnes told his radio audience on Tuesday. "I've gotta be honest with you – I wish I had not. I mean, the side effects I suffered and still continue to deal with, I wouldn't want to wish that on anybody."
Speaking in early August about those side effects, Starnes – who has had open-heart surgery – experienced what he's described as severe chest pain.
"If the government is going to force you to get the vaccine," he shared almost six weeks ago, "you deserve to know the truth – that more than likely you will suffer side effects …. The people who say side effects are few and far between are lying to you."
The radio commentator added yesterday: "I would not have gotten the jab had I known what was going to happen."
Starnes' advice coincides with the push by the Biden administration for federal workers to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. President Joe Biden also wants private sector workers of certain-size businesses to be vaccinated or show a negative test on a regular basis.
"I'm announcing that the Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees that together employ over 80 million workers to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week," Biden said Thursday in a televised address. "Some of the biggest companies are already requiring this."
Private citizens and politicians have been speaking out against Biden's proposed rule. Several Republican governors plan to fight it.
