Olivia Newton-John Says She’s Not Getting COVID-19 Vaccine Amidst Joint Interview With Anti-Vax Daughter

Grease star Olivia Newton-John revealed she does not plan on getting one of the coronavirus vaccines in a joint interview with her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi. While Newton-John did not further explain her decision, her daughter denied being against vaccines. Instead, Lattanzi, who runs a medicinal cannabis farm in Oregon, said she was against “putting mercury and pesticides in my body, which are in a lot of vaccines.” Researchers have stressed that the vaccines already approved in the U.S. are both safe.

During an interview with The Herald Sun, Newton-John was asked if she planned to get a coronavirus vaccine as an advocate for “natural” medicine. “Not at this point, no,” the 72-year-old said, reports The Daily Mail. Newton-John, who is battling stage 4 breast cancer, did not discuss the subject further, but her daughter did. “I’m not an anti-vaxxer, I’m anti putting mercury and pesticides in my body, which are in a lot of vaccines,” Lattanzi, who has no medical background, said.

“To me, real medicine is what comes from the earth. I think people trust vaccines because the doctor says it is safe, I used to,” Lattanzi went on to say. She claimed to have “done research” herself and believes vaccines are unsafe, despite all the medical research showing that most are. “If I had a chance to take herbs and plants as a baby rather than have toxins injected into me I would have done that,” Lattanzi, 34, said.

So far, trials for the first two vaccines approved in the U.S., developed by Pfizer and Moderna, have shown no serious safety concerns, according to Johns Hopkins University. The trials for these vaccines “had fully independent safety monitoring boards, and safety data are continuously reviewed by the FDA and expert panels,” the university notes. People with allergies can get the vaccine, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that anyone with an allergy to any of the ingredients in the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine should not get that vaccine. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine are about 95% effective in preventing mild and severe symptoms of COVID-19.

This was not the first time Lattanzi has shared unscientific and incorrect beliefs about vaccines, notes the Daily Mail. In a now-deleted post, Lattanzi spoke out against vaccines. Lattanzi said “natural medicine saved” her mother’s life, “so natural medicine is the party I belong to. Not Republican!!! Not Democrat,” she said last month. She also spoke out against face masks, which the CDC has said can help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Even though she wears them herself, Lattanzi said masks are “causing harm to little ones, and poor people that aren’t sick that have to suffocate 9 hour days.”