A controversial minister linked to President Donald Trump said flu shots aren’t necessary when you have Jesus.
“Inoculate yourself with the word of God,” urged Gloria Copeland, who with her husband co-founded the Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Texas.
Both serve on Trump’s evangelical advisory board.
While health officials continue to urge people to get flu shots during a season that has been marked by widespread illness, Copeland told followers that faith in Christ is all that’s really needed.
“Well, listen, partners, we don’t have a flu season,” Copeland said in a video clip posted online by Right Wing Watch. “And don’t receive it when somebody threatens you with, ‘Everybody’s getting the flu.’ We’ve already had our shot: He bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases. That’s what we stand on.”
She said the faithful who don’t have the flu can ward off the infection by repeatedly saying, “I’ll never have the flu. I’ll never have the flu.”
For those who are ― somehow ― sick anyway, she offered a prayer.
“Flu, I bind you off of the people in the name of Jesus,” she said, “Jesus himself gave us the flu shot. He redeemed us from the curse of flu, and we receive it and we take it, and we are healed by his stripes, amen.”
Last week, the CDC said flu hospitalizations have reached their highest point in nearly a decade, and that 48 states are experiencing widespread illnesses due to the virus.
The agency also urged people who have not yet been vaccinated to get the flu shot.
See her full comments in the clip above.
