Metallica frontman James Hetfield recently appeared on a podcast and expressed skepticism about aspects of the COVID vaccines, and indicated that he stands in opposition to the use of so-called vaccine passports.
“I have no clue. It’s not up to me. It really is up to the safety of everyone, not just the fans, but the crew and us. I’m not sure what that means in the future as far as vaccines,” Hetfield said. “I’m a little skeptical of getting the vaccine, but it seems to be rolling out and people are getting it and I’ve got lots of friends that have done it.”
“I’m not totally sure about it,” Hetfield continued. “But I hope it doesn’t come to a point where you have to have that COVID stamp in your passport or something to go everywhere. But if it comes down to that, then I’ll make a decision then. We got vaccinated to go to Africa, so it’s not like I’ve never been vaccinated before, but as a kid, I never got vaccinations ’cause of our religion. So that was the only time I got one, when we were going on safari in Africa.”
Hetfield’s comments, though measured, received intense backlash from left-wing activists on social media. The left wing’s hardline stance on mandatory inoculations and vaccine passports has caused much polarization on the issue in recent weeks.
As National File previously reported, Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently signed legislation banning vaccine passports:
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by the state legislature that bans governments and corporations from denying service to customers based on vaccination status.
“I think it’s the evidence-based thing to do,” DeSantis said at Monday’s press conference. “I think folks that are saying that they need to be policing people at this point, if you’re saying that you really are saying you don’t believe in the vaccines, you don’t believe in the data you don’t believe in the science.”
“The legislation creates a default legal presumption that during any emergency our businesses should be free from government mandates to close, and our schools should remain open for in-person instruction for our children,” DeSantis added.