Cannibal Corpse’s Paul Mazurkiewicz on the COVID-19 Vaccine: “I’m Just Weird About Being Forced To Take Something”
Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz has expressed some hesitation about getting one the (three as of this writing) COVID-19 vaccines.
And on the one hand, like, please Dio who art in Heaven, GO GET VACCINATED. If for no other reason than so we can all safely go back to live shows again (this is the longest I have gone without seeing live music since I was an infant (Sharon, Lois & Bram represent!)).
On the other hand, I find the way in which Mazurkiewicz expressed his ambivalence refreshing.
Speaking to Kaaos TV, the drummer said:
“I don’t know. I’m not one for that kind of stuff, so I don’t know. I think we may have no choice, maybe, being who we are, kind of a thing. Before all this, obviously, going to certain countries, [they would tell us], ‘Hey, you need that vaccine, you need that shot,’ because of the diseases that may be happening — like in South America, or something like that — or you’re not going to that country. So you had no choice. So that may be the reason for us to have to get the vaccine, is, ‘Hey, you wanna come to Europe? Well, you have no choice.’ So it kind of stinks.”
He continued:
“In a personal sense, I don’t know if I would [get the vaccine], per se. It’s a good question. I’m not sure. The flu shot has been readily available, obviously, for years, and so many people always just got a flu shot, and I know a lot of them as well. But it wasn’t anything that I felt that I neeed to get. So, yeah, I’m just weird about being forced to take something. It’s a touchy subject, of course, so I don’t know if I will get one or not, unless, like I said, I have to.”
See how he did that without floating any nutty conspiracy theories or quoting unverified statistics from OAN or saying anything that seems to magnetically attract your palm to your face? Sully Ernas and Ted Nugents of the world, take note!
Truthfully, the pandemic is, as so many have said before, unprecedented. I do sort of understand concern that these vaccines were rushed out into the world much faster than they would have been under normal circumstances, and that there could be long-term effects from the vaccine that we don’t know about yet (people who have been vaccinated tell me medical professionals even warn you of this fact before administering your first shot). Having said that, it’s a roll of the dice I think we should all agree as a community to take. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it a “roll of the dice.” A “moderate risk,” maybe?
In any case, I’m pretty sure Mazurkiewicz will have to get vaccinated, for the reasons he stated in the first quote. So this is probably a moot point on his end at least.
You can watch the entire interview with the drummer below. Cannibal Corpse will release a new album, Violence Unimagined, on April 16 via Metal Blade. It will be the band’s first album with longtime producer Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, ex-Morbid Angel) as their new guitarist, replacing Pat O’Brien. Check out the first single, “Inhumane Harvest,” here, and pre-order the album here.
