Just as Ingo Rademacher (Jasper “Jax” Jacks, “General Hospital”) has been increasingly coming under fire, literally, over his stance against vaccine mandates, “The Bold and the Beautiful” actor Aaron D. Spears (Justin Barber) has been spending the last 24 hours posing questions about the vaccine, being vaccinated or not being vaccinated, and whether the government has the right to put mandates in place. He says people should have a choice.
Responding to several dozen tweets from some of his more than 26,000 Twitter followers, Spears asked one poster, “But how is being vaccinated keeping anyone but yourself safe???” and said to another, “You can’t stop suicide so why force people to take the vaccine???” He responded to one user who questioned his vaccination status, saying, “Im simply stirring the pot… How do you know if I’m vaccinated or not. All Im saying is don’t force people to do bleep. PERIOD.”
Spears’ Twitter commentary began around 3:00 p.m. ET yesterday when he said, “Instead of forcing people to get vaccinated, why not simply have them sign a waiver, that if they r NOT vaccinated you can not receive medical attention at a hospital. Problem solved. It’s not like the vaccine protects anyone from catching the virus or spreading it!” He used the hashtag “vax not vax.”
In a follow up tweet, he said, “Why are vaccine mandates being put in place when the vaccine protects NO ONE from getting #COVID or spreading it? It feels like a false safe. If a person is cool with the possibilities of what may happen then so be it. What’s the big deal?!!” He used the hashtag “help,” inferring his need for help in answering the question.
When a commenter said that hospitals were “jam packed with unvaccinated people,” Spears responded, saying, “Cool. I agree. Unvaccinated, your choice. No hospital visits only for COVID, but restaurants, barbershops, your work place??? That is wrong. Vaccinated or NOT vaccinated, still catch it, still spread it it.”
A fan asked Spears if he was posting to gain media attention, to which he said, “I don’t need media attention. These discussions are good for those who know & those who don’t.”
On Friday, August 20, Spears tweeted, “What’s the difference between never having caught COVID & being vaccinated, compared 2, caught COVID & not vaccinated? Both people have antibodies, both can still catch it, both can still spread it, both may not catch it as bad the 2nd time around, so what’s the difference?” He again used the hashtag “help” to infer his need help in answering the question.
When a responder correlated his character’s abilities to lie for a living to Spears himself, the actor took issue, saying, “What does my character have to do with ANYTHING!!?? I’m not the one writing. I simply perform the words. Whether you like Justin or not is left up to you. You have the CHOICE to do exactly that. And got made LOVE 4 nurses just so it’s said. THANK YOU NURSES 4 ALL you do.” He used the “raised fist” and “brown heart” emojis to exemplify his response.
On Instagram, Spears shared a video with his more than 106,000 followers of someone talking about their choice to take the vaccine or not to take the vaccine. In the caption, he wrote, “Why are vaccine mandates being put in place when the vaccine protects NO ONE from getting #COVID or spreading it? It feels like a false safe. If a person is cool with the possibilities of what may happen then so be it. What’s the big deal?!!”
On Sunday, August 22, Spears revealed he was heading back to “B&B” to continue Justin’s storyline that has helped light a fire to the show’s ratings this summer when it was revealed the character had been working against his longtime friend and ally, dollar Bill Spencer (Don Diamont), when it came to the truth about Vinny’s (Joe LoCicero) death. “Going back into the lab next week to stir things up… hopefully some good mischief to come,” he posted.
For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, make sure to visit Coronavirus.gov.
Shown below are just some of Spears’ tweets on the topic of vaccines and vaccine mandates.