(Garrett for Michigan on Facebook)

At an event earlier this month, Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Garrett Soldano revealed he’s unvaccinated against COVID-19 and strongly implied that beating the virus is a matter of personal responsibility.

Soldano, a chiropractor, said he isn’t vaccinated since his natural antibody count appears to be increasing after a previous infection last year. When asked what others should do, he said his “Get Out of Jail Free card” is telling people it’s a matter of conscience.

The candidate then stressed that staying healthy and getting proper nutrition allows the body to do “what it needs to do.” He implied that the disease only killed obese people and those that were already unhealthy.

“It’s accountability time. Do not depend on your doctor for help,” Soldano said. “It’s your responsibility to be healthy.”

He cited natural immunity as the preferred way to acquire COVID-19 immunity. Soldano cited a debunked claim from last month that vaccinated people spread the coronavirus more than the unvaccinated as evidence.

“It’s not a vaccine to me; it’s more of a therapeutic,” Soldano said at the event, adding that it helps keep people from dying.

He also doubted the effectiveness of masks and downplayed the seriousness of the virus, saying “COVID’s a cold.” He then advocated against children getting vaccinated because of the lower COVID-19 death rate for children. As of Feb. 16, 822 American children died as a result of COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection.

“You let the kids get this naturally, it’d be fine,” Soldano said.

He later took offense to there being no long-term studies on vaccine safety and efficacy on the virus, which was first found in a Chinese patient in late 2019.

“What do we know that’s going to happen in five years, 10 years, 20 years?” Soldano questioned. “Give me the research.”

Soldano was speaking at a meet-and-greet event at a diner in Flint when he made those comments, according to audio provided by a Democratic source who gave access on condition of anonymity.