MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — A Yamhill County commissioner is once again speaking out against COVID-19 vaccines, disputing the copious evidence that has shown them to be safe and effective.
Last Friday, Commissioner Mary Starrett spoke at a rally put on by Free Oregon, demanding that the county health department remove "safe and effective" from the description of the vaccines on its website along with other counterinformation.
“This Thursday we're gonna have what I call a showdown. We're gonna say, this is what we want on the website,” Starrett said.
Starrett also said she plans to withhold a letter from commissioners that would keep the county's health department accredited by a nonprofit public health association unless she gets her way with making changes to the county's website.
“The information on the county website needs to reflect the truth and needs to be transparent… I don't trust the data that they're getting,” said Starrett.
Starrett has been outspoken during the pandemic in the past, critical of mask mandates and vaccines. She made headlines back in May when she shared debunked information about COVID vaccine ingredients at a public meeting.
“I've got one here that talks about chimpanzee DNA and that's in one of the vaccines. Fetal stem cells, that’s in one of the vaccines; there's a whole host other ingredients you wouldn't drink much less inject into yourself.,” said Starrett in May.
Jake Weigler, director of advocacy group Our Shot Oregon, said Starrett's most recent comments are "more of the same but to a new level… and I think it's unfortunate.”
The group has called out politicians for politicizing COVID response efforts.
“She had her chance to go make her case to health experts and they said they said no; this is quackery, this is misinformation and it's just going to confuse the conversation,” said Weigler.
At Friday's rally, Starrett said she did not want to be an accomplice to the lie that masks and vaccines help keep people healthy.
When KGW asked if she felt any responsibility for being an accomplice to pushing people away from the real science, Starrett responded, “Well you keep saying the same thing about the science… but that's not what the science shows.”
The three-person board of commissioners meets Thursday and the website information and accreditation letter are on the agenda.
KGW reached out to the doctor who heads up Yamhill County Public Health, but we have not heard back.