House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy found out he had Covid-19 and never knew it

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he learned he had Covid-19 antibodies after getting blood drawn in December, learning for the first time that he previously had the virus.

He said he got his vaccine before learning he had antibodies because the blood results took a few days.

“I had to do the blood work here, and then I do the blood work, I said, ‘Check me for the antibodies.’ So to do that, they take the blood work but they sent it away,” the California Republican said, explaining the timeline. “And then I had the vaccine. And then, like, three, four days later, the results came back. The doctor called me and said I have the antibodies, and so I had to have had it, (the doctor) probably thought within the last two months and this was in December.”

He added: “I probably wouldn’t have gotten the vaccine because they make you wait (if you had Covid-19).”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it does not recommend getting vaccinated if a person is currently infected with Covid-19, but if a person had a positive antibody test, it indicates past infection and there’s no reason to delay vaccination.

When asked by CNN for his reaction when he learned he possibly had Covid-19, McCarthy said he was shocked and added, “I didn’t know it … nobody on my staff got it either.”

When asked if he needs to do more to encourage the GOP Conference to be vaccinated, he said more than 75% of his conference has been vaccinated.

“Well, there’s more than 75% now … plus there’s 30-40 people who have had Covid too, so you even have a higher percent,” he said, implying that he thinks they have immunity to Covid-19 with the antibodies.