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Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) claimed on Sunday that President Joe Biden‘s Covid vaccine policy has “made it more difficult in rural states like Mississippi to get more and more people vaccinated.”

During the interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Reeves underscored his support for the vaccine — mentioning that he publicly received his shots — but slammed any type of mandate.

“I actually took my shots on Facebook Live, and I don’t like shots very much, Chuck,” Reeves said. “But that was my way in which of telling the people of Mississippi that I think this is the best way for you to protect yourselves but I also believe in individual liberties, and I believe in freedoms, and I believe individuals can make their own decision what’s best for them after they talk to their physician.”

Reeves took issue with Biden’s vaccine policy, which would require businesses with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccinations or require weekly Covid testing. The implementation of the rule was paused by a federal appeals court, and the Biden administration has challenged the move.

Asked by Todd whether campaigns against mandates have sent the wrong message about the vaccine, Reeves replied that he thinks “the president’s insistence on mandating them have hardened” some individuals against getting the vaccine.

Reeves said that Biden’s move “flies in the face of what he said throughout the

campaign” and is “one of the reasons his poll numbers are so low.”

He went on to say that many unvaccinated people in Mississippi already had the virus and were considering getting the vaccine as their natural immunity waned, “but the president’s insistence on mandating them have hardened them against it.”

“So I actually think it’s the president’s policies that have made it more difficult in rural states like Mississippi to get more and more people vaccinated,” he continued, adding that vaccination rates have continued to increase in the state.

According to the state health department, just over 1.4 million people in Mississippi are fully vaccinated as of Nov. 24 (about 47% of the state’s population).

Watch above, via MSNBC