Louisiana congresswomen-elect Julia Letlow is urging fellow Republicans to get vaccinated against Covid-19, citing the tragic death of her own husband from complications caused by the virus.
“Look at my family. Use my story,” Ms Letlow said on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday morning.
Recent polling shows that Republicans are less likely to get vaccinated than other groups, and the Biden administration is ramping up efforts to counter hesitancy around getting inoculated.
“You know, I experienced a tragedy in my immediate family, and Covid can touch every family out there,” continued Ms Letlow. “And so there is a vaccine that has life-saving capabilities, I want to encourage everyone to trust it and get the vaccine.”
Earlier this month, Ms Letlow won a special election to take the seat that her late husband Luke, won in last year’s election. He died in December, aged 41, before taking office.
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In her appearance on CBS, Ms Letlow told Margaret Brennan that she received “gracious” calls of sympathy from both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump
She added that Mr Biden, who has experienced great loss of his own, said that “he understood the pain that I was walking through, and that it will get better”.
Ms Letlow wrote a doctoral dissertation on the topic of grief after losing her 17-year-old brother in a car accident.
Her findings suggest that one way of dealing with grief is to find ways in which to serve others.
“When a person can get outside of themselves here in the grieving process and find ways to serve others, that can actually be cathartic and helping guide them through the grieving process,” she said.
Ms Letlow intends to channel her focus into serving the constituents of the Fifth District as the first Republican woman elected to Congress in Louisiana. High on her agenda is pay equity for women.
As part of its efforts to reassure conservatives of the safety of the vaccines, the Biden administration is exploring outreach programs with partners including Nascar and country music figures.
