McConaughey, weighing Texas governor bid, not supporting mandate for COVID-19 vaccine for children

Actor Matthew McConaughey, weighing a bid for Texas governor, says he does not believe in a government mandate that would require children get a COVID-19 shot.

"I couldn't mandate having to vaccinate the younger kids," he said Tuesday during The New York Times' DealBook summit. "I still want to find out more information. I'm vaccinated. My wife's vaccinated. I didn't do it because someone told me I had to – [I] chose to do it."

The FDA recently authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5-11. 

McConaughey, who continues to tease a possible run against incumbent Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, said that he is not opposed to vaccinations, but does not feel they should be required, especially for children.

"Do I think that there's any kind of scam or conspiracy theory? Hell no," the actor told The Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin. "We all got to get off that narrative. There's not a conspiracy theory on the vaccines."

McConaughey and his wife have three children.

The Academy Award winner also weighed in on the recently enacted Texas abortion ban, calling it "overly aggressive."

The law, which bans most abortions after six weeks from conception, is facing a Supreme Court challenge.

"It doesn't doesn't seem to open up the room for a sensible choice to be made at the right time," McConaughey said. "I believe in this: more responsibility, more personal responsibility to make the right choices. And we got to pick context with each situation, and each person's situation, each woman's situation."