He said he got his vaccine before learning he had antibodies because the blood results took a few days.
“I had to do the blood work here, and then I do the blood work, I said, ‘Check me for the antibodies.’ So to do that, they take the blood work but they sent it away,” the California Republican said, explaining the timeline. “And then I had the vaccine. And then, like, three, four days later, the results came back. The doctor called me and said I have the antibodies, and so I had to have had it, (the doctor) probably thought within the last two months and this was in December.”
He added: “I probably wouldn’t have gotten the vaccine because they make you wait (if you had Covid-19).”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it does not recommend getting vaccinated if a person is currently infected with Covid-19, but if a person had a positive antibody test, it indicates past infection and there’s no reason to delay vaccination.
When asked by CNN for his reaction when he learned he possibly had Covid-19, McCarthy said he was shocked and added, “I didn’t know it … nobody on my staff got it either.”
When asked if he needs to do more to encourage the GOP Conference to be vaccinated, he said more than 75% of his conference has been vaccinated.
“Well, there’s more than 75% now … plus there’s 30-40 people who have had Covid too, so you even have a higher percent,” he said, implying that he thinks they have immunity to Covid-19 with the antibodies.
