Nick Offerman, the actor behind beloved “Parks and Recreation” character Ron Swanson, has a message for Americans: Get vaccinated.

What You Need To Know

  • Nick Offerman testified at a House subcommittee hearing on building confidence in COVID-19 vaccines about the importance of getting vaccinated

  • Offerman, the husband of Emmy-winning actress Megan Mullally, called the COVID-19 vaccines a “gift” and wanted to give Americans who have “experiences and backgrounds similar to my own” who are vaccine hesitant the chance to hear a “positive message” about the inoculations

  • The actor, author and woodworker talked about his large family of 38 people in Minooka, Ill., some of whom have refused to wear masks and get the COVID-19 vaccine

  • Offerman also said that the vaccine will have a tremendous positive impact on his custom furniture store, Offerman Workshop, as well as the nonprofit they run, Wood Works, which “trains individuals experiencing homelessness to be woodworkers”

The husband of Emmy-winning actress Megan Mullally testified at a House subcommittee hearing on building confidence in COVID-19 vaccines on why getting inoculated against the coronavirus is critical.

“As an actor, author and woodworker, I will not be offering medical advice today,” Offerman said as he opened his remarks. “I will leave that to the scientists and medical experts on the panel, aka the ‘smart people.’”

“Instead, I would like lead with my ignorance in these matters, to represent to represent the rest of the citizens who are not epidemiologists and doctors, but feet-on-the-ground, hands-in-the-dirt people across our country whose lives have taken a pounding from this pandemic,” he continued.

Offerman, highlighting his background “as a small business owner and a proud Midwesterner,” talked about his large family of 38 people in Minooka, Ill., some of whom have refused to wear masks and get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Unfortunately, because of disinformation from social media platforms with no oversight, a few have refused masks from the get-go, and they now refuse the vaccine,” he said. “We also have a couple of immunocompromised nephews, which means we all have to avoid the anti-vaxers, whom we love, for the safety of the rest of the family. 

“It breaks my heart, and we can’t wait until we can all be reunited,” he added.

Offerman called the COVID-19 vaccines a “gift” and wanted to give Americans who have “experiences and backgrounds similar to my own” who are vaccine hesitant the chance to hear a “positive message” about the inoculations.

“There is nothing more positive than the vaccine itself,” he said, noting that some people refer to the vaccines as “a miracle.”

"Now, this makes sense, given the magnitude of death and destruction that the virus has caused, and the speed with which the vaccine prevents that death and destruction once it’s administered,” Offerman continued. “But I don’t think that ‘miracle’ is quite accurate.” 

“A ‘miracle’ is something inexplicable that appears from nowhere, sent by unseen forces,” Offerman clarified. “The vaccine is not a miracle, the vaccine is a gift, from the world’s greatest scientists and thinkers and activists. It’s the product of human ingenuity, the absolute pinnacle of achievement, created out of whole cloth by a bunch of dang geniuses who have saved us from endless death and destruction by solving a complex problem of microbiology in record time.”

Offerman, who has appeared in such films as “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” and “21 Jump Street,” also addressed concerns by some about the speed at which the vaccine was developed, noting that some people “fear that it was rushed.”

“Well, you’re damn right, folks, it was rushed, it’s a pandemic,” he said. But you can rest assured the hustle was not applied to the safety of the vaccine.  The science didn’t arrive overnight, the science was based on 40 years of work.”

“The hustle was just applied to getting that science to you and me, by bypassing the usual bureaucratic hurdles – the red tape,” he continued.

Offerman also said that the vaccine will have a tremendous positive impact on his custom furniture store, Offerman Workshop, as well as the nonprofit they run, Wood Works, which “trains individuals experiencing homelessness to be woodworkers.”

"Medicine doesn't care who you voted for,” he concluded. “We amazing humans have created a vaccine that serves the common good. The vaccine doesn't take sides, unless you count alive vs. dead.”

Offerman, who became a household name portraying the staunch anti-government Libertarian Ron Swanson in “Parks and Recreation,” recently told MSNBC that Swanson would get the vaccine.

“Ron, I think at first would, of course, scoff at a vaccine, and say, ‘I’ve never been to the doctor. I rely on my preternatural immune system to protect me,’” Offerman said to MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan this week. “But then his wife, Diane, played by the great Lucy Lawless, would step up and say, ‘Hey, buddy, you’re no longer alone here. You got me, I teach at a school, we got kids to worry about. Your responsibilities are no longer limited to your own body.’”

“So, once he was convinced of that, he’s a good guy,” he continued. “And once a good guy sees that he’s taking care of others and that it’s for the common good, of course, he would get the damn vaccine.”

Offerman remarked that such a premise would make a “great episode” of the beloved Amy Poehler-helmed series, which ran for 7 seasons.