Senator Rand Paul has claimed that Democrats are “plucking” kids with Covid from the border “ to “seed the country with a new variant” in a claim that’s been roundly slammed for being blatant disinformation.
The Kentucky Republican’s comments came during an interview with Fox News, in which he discussed Covid vaccinations and whether they should be mandatory.
Mr Paul said: “They’re taking kids from down at the border who may have it, and they’re plucking them up and putting them all over the United States, as if they’re wishing to seed the country with a new variant. It’s an awful thing to do.”
As a clip of the interview was shared on Twitter, users said they were appalled by the claims.
@JRodriguez81 posted: “I’ve never seen such a barrage of flat out propaganda. These dudes are dangerous”, while @Madge1428 wrote: “Seems like all of a sudden the GOP are spewing disinformation about immigrants and the border.”
Others called on Twitter to take action on the basis that disinformation from a US senator was being spread on its platform.
@MrBrianDNutt posted: “@TwitterSafety can you take a look at this? We have a Senator, @RandPaul, that is purposely and knowingly spreading lies and disinformation on your platform. He knows what he is saying is not true. He is scoring political points. That’s all this is.”
The senator went on to tell Americans to mind their own business if they supported mandatory vaccinations.
“The bottom line is for those who are saying, ‘I won’t go to a restaurant unless we force everybody to be vaccinated,’ if you’re vaccinated you are overwhelmingly safe from hospitalisation and death. Mind your own business,” said Mr Paul.
