Tenn. pastor says Covid vaccine is government control: 'You ought to really pray about it'

WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WZTV) — A controversial pastor making national headlines for outrageous claims about the Covid-19 vaccine is doubling down on his message.

Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church made comments at his latest Sunday service, making outlandish claims about the vaccine safety and efficacy, and called it a form of government control.

RELATED: TN pastor under fire for making false claims about Covid vaccine, calls it 'sugar water'

“I ain’t getting it, I ain’t promoting it, and I discourage everyone under this tent to get it,” he said during service.

When FOX 17 News sat down with him, he said he won’t try to stop someone from getting it.

“I can’t necessarily say ‘do not get this or you should not get this’, my opinion is it’s not the best direction to take.”

FOX 17 News asked why he’s saying this, despite discouraging his congregation to get the vaccine on Sunday.

ALSO READ: Political debate as heated as ever: Wilson County pastor calls COVID-19 'fake pandemic'

“I let our folks know, as a Shepherd I think I have a shepherding responsibility to do it, at the end of the day, we’re not going to kick you out of church, we’re not going to malign you, but I think you ought to really pray about it and weigh your options,” Locke said.

Locke told his church—he believes political elites didn’t get the vaccine, but instead got doses of sugar water.

He told us he was being sarcastic, to an extent.

“I don’t believe they got sugar water, but I do believe as the nurses call it, the placebo, I do believe it’s nothing more than saline, I don’t believe the political elites at all got that shot.”

Experts say—these claims are not true.

Professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Dr. James West says the vaccine is safe and extremely effective.

“The reason we know it’s going to work is because of Israel, they’re up to 80% of population vaccinated and the pandemic is completely gone,” West said. “If we could do that, and we could, we have enough vaccine around, the only reason Covid isn’t completely gone right now is because people aren’t going out and getting it."

Dr. West says Covid numbers are decreasing because of the vaccine.

But Locke isn’t buying it.

“We’re getting back to normal because people want to be normal, we’re not getting back to normal because people are getting jabs in their arms,” Locke said.

Locke also questioned the speed of the vaccine development. Dr. West says no corners were cut in its development, and the emergency use authorization is routine.

“When there’s a new deadly disease out there the way we end it with all of these things is with vaccination. Small pox used to kill lots of people,” West said. “Enough people got vaccinated that the disease is completely gone now, it doesn’t exist In the wild at all.”

Locke says this is the hill he will “live and die on,” and no argument will change his stance.

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