NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins says it's 'truly heartbreaking' to see fellow evangelicals refuse the COVID-19 vaccine because of misinformation, urges them to 'look at the evidence'

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, receives his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health.

Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images

• NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said each day over 1,000 people die from COVID-19.
• In an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta, Collins said most of those deaths are among the unvaccinated.
• Collins called on fellow evangelicals to look at the evidence and get vaccinated.

Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, is urging fellow evangelicals to get vaccinated.

In an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta on Saturday, Collins said misinformation is causing evangelicals to be hesitant about getting vaccinated. Calling it "truly heartbreaking," he urged people to look at the "evidence."

"Let me make a plea right here that if you are a Christian, or if you're anybody who has not yet gotten vaccinated, hit the reset button on whatever information you have that's causing you to be doubtful or hesitant or fearful and look at the evidence," Collins said. "The evidence is overwhelming, the vaccines are safe, they're effective, they can save your life."

A June survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 22% of Evangelicals said they will definitely not get vaccinated.

Collins told Acosta there are still more than 1,000 people dying every day because of COVID-19, almost all of them unvaccinated and "therefore didn't have to happen."

"Christians of all people are supposed to be particularly worried about their neighbors and this is also a really critical situation where if you're not vaccinated you may be the one spreading this virus to somebody vulnerable who can't necessarily resist it," Collins said.

Some Christians have argued that they can't get the vaccine because fetal cell lines played some role in the development of the vaccine, the Associated Press reported.

The AP reported that the Vatican's doctrine office has said it is "morally acceptable" for Catholics to get the vaccine even if it was based on research on fetal cells. Pope Francis said not getting the vaccine was "suicide."

Collins, who has served as the NIH director for more than 12 years announced last week that he was stepping down at the end of the year.

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