Michigan state Representative ‘refuses’ COVID vaccine, federal funding

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan is in the middle of a massive vaccination effort, but not everyone is getting on board.

April 15, 2021: Michigan coronavirus cases up to 770,822; Death toll now at 16,731

State Rep. Steve Carra spoke with Local 4 about why he’s refusing a vaccine.

Carra is a 32-year-old Republican Representative of the 59th District of Southwest, Michigan. He said he’s refusing a COVID vaccine because of its emergency authorization, what he feels is pressure from the government and concerns about vaccination and immunization records.

“I just think that goes against the whole concept of being a free country,” Carra said.

The Biden Administration has come out squarely and unequivocally against the notion of “vaccine passports” and there is currently no mandate about U.S. residents being required be vaccinated against coronavirus.

“I think there’s other remedies. Things like making sure that I get my Vitamin D -- hydroxychloroquine is an option,” Carra said. “There’s other alternatives that people can choose.”

Hydroxychloroquine was studied as a prophylactic way to stop virus infection and it was shown to not be effective at all.



He said one of his biggest complaints is funding. Carra voted No on Michigan House Bill 4019, which would disperse federal COVID funding for vaccine distribution, testing, food assistance and more.

He believes the allocation of funding for contact tracing without a warrant is intrusive and inappropriate governance.

“Perhaps your private sector company could say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna start the research and development for a vaccine,’ and they and they sell it to people on the market,” Carra said. “Somebody who wants to pay $50-70, go to the doctor at a copay and get COVID-19 and pay $50 for it.”

Carra was asked about how people without disposable income might not be able to have the money to pay for something that could save their lives.

“Yeah, how many those people, how many of those people also have a cell phone?” Carra asked. “Maybe don’t have your cell phone for a month. I mean, these are if it’s life or death. I think people can find $50 or $60 to go buy a vaccine off the market.”

He said that funding for residents who might not have the financial ability to pay for a vaccine could get a donation from local churches.

Dr. Jason Wasserman is a bio-ethics expert from Oakland University who watched the entire unedited interview with Carra.

“I certainly think that we hold our elected officials, or at least we should hold our elected officials, to higher standards. We need them to create public policy based on the weight of the evidence,” Wasserman said. “I think what’s really dangerous is that this kind of notion is sweeping through the country, especially in different sectors again. It’s more startling coming from an elected official because their obligation is to create public policy on the basis of the weight of the evidence and that’s clearly not what’s being done by many of them.”

You can watch Paula Tutman’s full story in the video above.


About the Authors:

Paula Tutman is an Emmy award-winning journalist who came to Local 4 in 1992. She's married and the stepmother of three beautiful and brilliant daughters. Her personal philosophy in life, love and community is, "Do as much as you can possibly do, not as little as you can possibly get away with".

Dane is a producer and media enthusiast. He previously worked freelance video production and writing jobs in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts. Dane graduated from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.