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Pete Parada, drummer for the veteran rock band the Offspring, has been booted from the group after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine due to a pre-existing medical condition.
The 48-year-old “Come Out and Play” musician announced the news Monday in a lengthy Instagram post, in which he made clear he harbored no ill feeling toward his bandmates — but maintained that “the shots carry greater risks than the virus” for him.
“Given my personal medical history and the side-effect profile of these jabs, my doctor has advised me not to get the shot at this time,” said Parada, claiming that he contracted COVID more than a year ago but the symptoms were “mild.”
He went on to explain that throughout his childhood, he suffered from several rounds of Guillain-Barre syndrome and doesn’t want to risk triggering another bout with the vaccine. GBS is a rare disorder in which the “body’s immune system attacks your nerves [causing] weakness and tingling in your extremities,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that people who have had GBS actually can get the COVID-19 vaccine, with no cases of returning GBS reported following the Moderna clinical trials, and only one GBS case in the Johnson & Johnson trial. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did issue a July warning that the single-dose vaccines could be associated with an increased risk of developing GBS.
“Since I am unable to comply with what is increasingly becoming an industry mandate — it has recently been decided that I am unsafe to be around, in the studio, and on tour,” Parada continued in his social media statement.
It wasn’t clear if Parada’s departure is permanent, but he noted he will not perform in the band’s upcoming shows.
While remaining cordial with the band he joined in 2007, Parada did rail against vaccine mandates.
“I do not find it ethical or wise to allow those with the most power (government, corporations, organizations, employers) to dictate medical procedures to those with least power,” he wrote. “There are countless folks (like me) for whom these shots carry a greater risk than the virus … Sending love to everyone who has been impacted by this pandemic, in all the ways lives have been lost and altered.”
Other members of the Offspring — which is launching a tour on Aug. 8 — have yet to comment on Parada’s statements. However, some social media watchdogs are poking fun about how you shouldn’t “f–k around and find out” when the lead singer [Dexter Holland] has a PhD in molecular biology and studied viruses.
Full article: HERE
