Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin. Julio Cortez/Associated Press
Pennsylvania state senator Doug Mastriano was elected for the first time in a special election in 2019.
His 33rd district of the state senator is in the south-central region of the state.
With 68.6% of votes, he was reelected in 2020. He claims that Pennsylvania's election in 2016 was fraudulent.
On Thursday, a Republican from Pennsylvania tried to prevent his state's votes being counted in 2020 elections. He held a fundraiser at a local church where he ridiculed the idea of "herd immunity" as well as falsely suggesting that the vaccines against COVID-19 were not vaccines.
Mastriano seemed to be preparing for a run for governor in 2022 at a fundraiser hosted by the tax-exempt, central Pennsylvania evangelical Time Ministries Church. He had previously claimed that Trump asked him to do it. Mastriano's remarks were broadcast live to Facebook and discussed opposition to vaccine mandates. A bill he introduced bans any immunization.
Mastriano stated, "So now, the healthcare workers are in a poor spot there," blasting Joe Biden's "edicts" that "you must get the shot."
Mastriano said, "I guess it shouldn't be called a vaccine," referring to the false claims and disinformation that mRNA vaccinations such as those from Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech aren't true vaccines. They rely on new medical technology to stimulate antibody production. Johnson & Johnson's inoculation is a traditional vector vaccine.
Johns Hopkins says that the vaccines, which include one approved by FDA (Pfizer) and two with FDA emergency authorization (Moderna, J&J) are safe and effective in preventing severe cases of COVID-19.
Mastriano was also a campaigner against mask-wearing during the pandemic. He learned of his positive test at a post-election meeting between Trump and Mastriano at the White House.
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"And who has ever heard the idea that you must get the shot to protect others?" Mastriano questioned the small crowd at the church. Mastriano asked the small audience. He said that this was not reasonable or logical.
Mastriano suggests that the COVID-19 vaccines have new benefits, but it is an important tenet in modern immunology. This is why schools in Pennsylvania require students to be vaccinated against polio. There are few exceptions for religious and medical reasons.
The Defense Department's Military Health System explained that "when a vaccine is administered to a substantial portion of the population, it protects both those who are vaccinated and those who are not." This is known as 'herd immunity'. A high percentage of people are vaccinated against a disease and they don't get sick. This means that there is no spread of the disease.
Although vaccines offer significant protection from infection, there can be breakthrough infections. The military and schools mandate many vaccines to reduce the risk that unvaccinated people - who are more likely to have a virus - can test the immunity of vaccinated persons and cause a breakthrough case.
Time Ministries Church encouraged people to support state Senator Doug Mastriano's campaign for political office. Facebook
The state senator made false claims about the 2020 election at Thursday's fundraiser. The Democratic Governor was limited by a ballot measure that Pennsylvania Republicans passed this year. Tom Wolf is unable to issue public health orders in the event of a pandemic. Mastriano claimed that the state's elections were fraudulent. He cited a story about ballots being transported in from New York.
"They had magnifying glass on one of the machines. They could tell that photocopies were pixelated. He claimed that it was clear that the ballot had been compromised.
However, the Arizona Republicans commissioned a partisan review that found no such "compromised votes" despite the fact that it was led by Cyber Ninjas who were determined to find them. Mastriano pushed for a third-party review of Pennsylvania's Fulton County results. It also found no evidence that fraud was involved.
Mastriano has a history of making inexact and incendiary claims regarding the presidential election. This fact has earned him support from the loser.
The Senate Judiciary Committee's interim staff report reveals that Mastriano, who was outside the US Capitol on January 6, and chartered buses to transport protesters to Washington, urged Richard Donoghue, acting attorney general, to investigate a number of easily debunked claims about fraud.
The state senator claimed that more votes were cast than there were Pennsylvania voters, a claim that did not account for residents of Philadelphia and other counties. Rudy Giuliani also hosted hearings in which Mastriano supported the Trump campaign's attempts to invalidate Pennsylvania's election results.
Mastriano's Thursday event ended, at least online, not with talk about election fraud but with questions from the audience regarding his opposition to vaccine regulations. Mastriano ensured that no one could hear him answer a question from a woman asking about the state of the effort in the state legislature.
He told an aide, "Kill my live feed back here,"
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