Republican leaders are championing COVID-19 shots as red states struggle with vaccination rates and the Delta variant rips across the US

• Three Republican leaders have spoken out in favor of COVID-19 vaccines.
• Mitt Romney said that the politicization of vaccination was "an outrage" and "moronic."
• Red states tend to have lower vaccination rates than blue states.

Three Republican leaders have spoken out in favor of COVID-19 shots as red-leaning states $4 while the highly infectious Delta variant rips across the US.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told$4Wednesday that it was an "enormous error for anyone to suggest that we shouldn't be taking vaccines." "Look, the politicization of vaccination is an outrage and frankly moronic," he said.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Wednesday that most vaccine skepticism was "based on conspiracy theories, unfortunately." Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that "we need to keep preaching that getting the vaccine is important."

Romney said that President Trump "moved heaven and earth to get vaccines developed on a timely basis" and it would be "an insult to the accomplishment" if people still failed to get the shots, per the$4.

Meanwhile, many Republicans remain skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines, believing the public health campaign to be an infringement on personal liberty. On Monday, several GOP state lawmakers $4 to make it illegal to "discriminate" against people who aren't vaccinated.

Read more: Experts explain why the mRNA tech that revolutionized COVID-19 vaccines could be the answer to incurable diseases, heart attacks, and even snake bites: 'The possibilities are endless'>$4

Utah, Texas, and Kentucky, which are all red-leaning states, have below-average vaccine rates with respectively 45%, 43%, and 44% fully vaccinated, $4The national average is 48.2%.

Insider$4that the highest number of new cases caused by the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant are mostly in states with low vaccination rates - which on the whole are Republican.

Utah and Kentucky fit this trend with more than 80% of new infections caused by the Delta variant, $4 In Kentucky, the formerly dominant Alpha variant accounts for about 60% of new infections, and Delta 30%. The exact numbers of Delta infection may vary because$4