After first suggesting otherwise, Tucker Carlson flat-out acknowledged that COVID vaccines “work.” But he still claimed not to understand how unvaccinated people harm anyone. Let’s hope he asks Colin Powell’s family.
First, let’s acknowledge that world-class coward Carlson admitted during an appearance on The Daily Caller podcast “Save The Nation” what he pretends not to know on his prime time show.
In another post about this interview, I noted that Carlson railed against vaccine mandates but cravenly dodged discussing what amounts to a vaccine mandate (stricter than President Biden’s federal requirements) at Fox News. First, Carlson claimed not to know about his employer’s policy, which was sent to all employees. Then he claimed not to be “qualified” to discuss it.
A few minutes later, ladies and gentlemen, admitted liar and prime time vaccine skeptic Carlson acknowledged that the vaccines are effective. But first, he strongly implied otherwise.
At about 45:06 Carlson cast doubt on vaccines’ efficacy:
CARLSON: Look, I don’t think you should spread communicable diseases. I think it’s immoral, it’s totally wrong. But, in the context of COVID-19, there’s a variable that we’re not acknowledging and that’s the vaccines.
So, all of us are required, we have been told, to get the vaccines because the vaccines work. They will save us from infection, from transmission and from death. So, if we believe that’s true, and a lot of people do believe it’s true, because they don’t read, they don’t read, then tell me why if vaccines work, you should be concerned about my COVID status. I’m honestly baffled.
If you’re worried about COVID, you can get a vaccine. And if the vaccines work, that should kind of end the conversation, right? What am I missing here? (45:06)
Then, about a minute later, at 46:16, Carlson explicitly stated that vaccines are effective:
CARLSON: Look, my only point is, if you’re worried about COVID, get the vaccine. They work. You don’t need to worry about whether I’ve had the vaccine. Because if you, if you’re concerned, you can get it. So what am I missing? Honestly, like – just the logic chain seems to fall apart. Where have I gone off the rails as a linear thinker here? What am I missing?
What Carlson is missing – either because he’s too lazy or too dishonest, or both – is that the point of vaccines is not just to protect yourself but to protect others, like Colin Powell, too. As I explained in my previous post, the 84-year old Powell was fully vaccinated but immunocompromised and thus particularly vulnerable to unvaccinated spreaders. As Washington Post’s Philip Bump pointed out, “[H]ad Powell been protected both by the vaccine and by low rates of infection in his community, he might still be alive.”
But don’t expect Carlson – who lacks the guts to say he has been vaccinated, much less criticize the Fox policy he so intensely opposes everywhere else – to own up to these truths, either.
You can watch Carlson question whether vaccines work a minute before he affirms that they do, below.
(Carlson image via screen grab)
About 5-10% of the elderly in Italy are set on refusing the vaccine for the usual wide variety of ever-changing reasons put out by the No-vaxx movement.
Last week’s regulation requiring proof of vaccination or a recent swab to enter the work place seems to be increasing the vaccination rates in that age group, though the media prefer to focus on the relatively few demonstrations (mostly at a couple of ports). The public health authorities are trying to identify something that will convince the elderly. Municipal authorities have started using the local police force as a taxi service.
As the elderly are heavy users of the national health service, a better way may be to brainwash them during their weekly visits for blood work and such. What I find galling is that the very same people are willing to take any medication prescribed by the very same doctor they ignore with regard to vaccines. And most of them wouldn’t take a generic if it were free (which it often is). That weakens the most common reasons given against the vaccine: a) I won’t have any foreign stuff in my body; b) the big companies are making a fortune off of vaccines.
Tucker doesn’t say that vaccinated people are a whole lot less likely (like over ten times unlikely) to catch the disease. He prefers to focus on the fact that there are breakthrough infections. Only part of the truth is a lie, Tucky.
Breakthrough infections here in Italy are running at about 10-15% of the hospitalised folks and the average age at death among the vaccinated is 84, confirming their elderly status. Switched around, those numbers mean that 85-90% of the hospitalised are not elderly (under 60 years old) and unvaccinated. The age at death of this lot is under 65, confirming their relative youth.
As Tuckums and his viewership suffer from a deep dislike of numbers, they prefer to focus on the fact that some vaccinated folks still do catch the virus. They don’t or won’t understand that breakthrough infections are relatively few (by ten times or more) and largely limited to the elderly with chronic ailments. Fact is those people wouldn’t be catching the virus if it wasn’t circulating thanks to the un-vaccinated.
Rant over.
