An ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Israel has sparked widespread backlash after he reportedly urged his followers not to get the potentially lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines because it might “turn them” gay.
Israel Hayom, one of Israel’s most popular daily publications, reports that Rabbi Daniel Asor told his followers that the use of “embryonic substrate” could “cause opposite tendencies.” In a recent sermon posted to social media, Asor warned his supporters that “any vaccine made using an embryonic substrate, and we have evidence of this, causes opposite tendencies.” “Vaccines are taken from an embryonic substrate, and they did that here, too, so…it can cause opposite tendencies,” he added.