Talk show host Tucker Carlson does not trust the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Carlson called the effort “false” and “too slick” during his show on Wednesday.
“This stuff is great,” Carlson said. “A lot of famous people say so. Just the other day, the guy who played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings series got the vaccine. As on any media tour, the paparazzi were there for the dramatic moment when they stuck the needle in his arm.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence received the coronavirus vaccine during a White House event aimed at convincing skeptical Americans that the vaccines are safe. Pence’s wife, Karen, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also got the vaccine on Friday.
“So how are the rest of us supposed to respond to a marketing campaign like this?” Carlson said. “Nervously, if you are strongly supportive of vaccines, and we are. Even if you recognize how many lives have been saved because of vaccines, and we do. It all seems a bit much, it feels false because it is, it’s too slick.”
He called out philanthropist Melinda Gates for a CNN interview in which she said it was important to target misinformation.
The Food and Drug Administration said shipments of Moderna’s vaccine will begin this weekend if the FDA grants emergency use authorization.
