GOP lawmakers release video urging skeptics to get COVID-19 vaccine

April 27 (UPI) -- In an effort to address hesitancy among some Republicans and conservatives to accept COVID-19 vaccines, a group of GOP lawmakers and physicians issued a video Tuesday encouraging them to get inoculated and promising that the shots are safe.

The video, led by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who's an obstetrician-gynecologist, shows brief snippets in which they discuss the benefits of receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., says in the video the federal government has worked for more than a year to bring safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to the public, "in record time."

The lawmakers, who are also physicians, also note in the video that getting vaccinated also means getting ahead of coronavirus restrictions. They said receiving the shots is the quickest way to return to normal.

The group encourages skeptical Americans to speak with a medical professional.

"The FDA did not skip any steps," Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., says in the video.

According to a CBS News/YouGov poll Monday, 30% of Republican respondents said they will not get any of the three available coronavirus vaccines, while 19% said they might get vaccinated. Twenty-two percent of all respondents in the survey said they don't plan to receive a vaccine.

Marshall added in the video that mass vaccinations will ultimately allow Americans to "throw away our masks and live life as free as we did before."

Others in the video include Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.; Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga.; Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind.; Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas; and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas.