As President Joe Biden promised a renewed push to vaccinate more Americans amid stalling inoculation rates, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) said Friday that the immunization drive sounded more to him like a nefarious plot to begin confiscating firearms and doing away with religion. Biden promised that his health department’s new approach would involve trusted local figures like doctors and pastors “literally knocking on doors,” to which the freshman Republican responded, “Now they’re talking about going door-to-door to bring vaccines to the people. Think of the mechanisms they would have to build to be able to actually execute that massive of a thing. Think about what those mechanisms could be used for. They could then go door-to-door to take your guns, to take your Bibles.”

Cawthorn was sitting for an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas. Biden’s pandemic coordinator Jeff Zients said of remarks like Cawthorn’s, “Those individuals and organizations that are feeding misinformation and trying to mischaracterize this type of ‘trusted messenger’ work, I believe you are doing a disservice to the country and to the doctors, the faith leaders, community leaders and others who are working to get people vaccinated, save lives, and help end this pandemic.”