Winsome Sears makes head-scratching COVID claims during CNN interview

Lt. Gov-elect Winsome Sears made four baffling statements about the COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday during an appearance on CNN’s "State of the Union."

Although Sears and her Republican running mate, Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, remain opposed to mandatory vaccination, they urged people to get vaccines this fall.

CNN’s host, Donna Bash, noted that Virginia schools require a number of vaccines, including for polio, measles and chickenpox. "So, why is it OK to mandate childhood vaccines in Virginia for so many diseases, but not COVID?" Bash asked.

"Let's ask ourselves, if the purpose of the COVID vaccine is to prevent us from getting COVID, then why is it that those who have had COVID must get the vaccine?" Sears replied. "The one doesn't follow the other."

Sears' statement overlooks findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that vaccinations offer higher protection against COVID-19 than having been previously infected by it.

The study examined more than 7,000 people in nine states who were hospitalized with COVID-like illness. The CDC found that "those who were unvaccinated and had a recent infection were five times more likely to have COVID-19 than those who were recently fully vaccinated and did not have a prior infection."

Sears, while answering the same question about mandatory school vaccines, said, "Let me ask you this question: If you have the mask on, then why does somebody else have to wear the mask? You’ve got the mask and vaccine. You’re fully protected, armored."

Bash corrected Sears, saying scientists have found the antibodies from vaccines or previous COVID infection weaken over time, "which is why people are getting boosters."

Indeed. a CDC study found that vaccine effectiveness against infection dropped from 91.8% to 75% among New York state adults from May 3 to July 25, 2021. And others wearing masks, particularly if they’re unvaccinated, lower the risk of COVID spread.

Sears cast blame on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for politicizing the vaccine.

"President Biden, and Vice President Harris themselves both said they would not trust any vaccine that was developed by the Trump administration," she said. "That was before their election. After their election, they were singing a different song. And now everybody has to be vaccinated."

PolitiFact National this summer gave a False rating to a similar statement running on Tik Tok. Biden and Harris voiced concern during the 2020 election that Trump would rush out a COVID vaccine before it was fully vetted by scientists. They said they would get a vaccine that had undergone full scientific review.

Next, Bash asked Sears if she has been vaccinated for COVID. Sears wouldn’t say, saying the question created "slippery slopes."

"The minute that I start telling you about my vaccine status, we're going to be down the bottom of the mountain trying to figure out how we got there, because now you want to know what's in my DNA," she said. "You're going to want to know this, that and the other."

Sears seems to be giving credence to a discredited meme that the COVID vaccine alters DNA. The CDC calls it a "myth" and PolitiFact has rated it False. 

"COVID-19 vaccines do not change or interact with your DNA in any way," the CDC says. "...The material never enters the nucleus of the cell, which is where our DNA is kept."