CNN’s Brian Stelter accused Tucker Carlson and the rest of Fox News of “prolonging the pandemic” with their commentary over the coronavirus.
Stelter appeared Tuesday on New Day to talk about conservative radio host Dennis Prager, who just announced he was diagnosed with Covid after deliberately trying to contract the disease. Stelter called this the “illogical extreme” of the right-wing mantra to “own the Libs,” and he noted how Prager’s contrarianism has public health consequences.
Stelter went on to argue that right-wing media figures are primarily responsible for the vaccine skepticism and the partisan squabbling that overshadowed the pandemic. He invoked Carlson — noting that Fox News host used Colin Powell’s death to attack vaccine effectiveness before acknowledging the full context of Powell’s immunocompromised health conditions.
“It is this day-in, day-out narrative that actually is prolonging the pandemic,” Stelter said. “It is that simple and that awful. They are prolonging the pandemic.”
John Berman interjected to cite Will Cain questioning the effectiveness of vaccines as well.
“Reminder, you don’t know everything right away,” Stelter said. “Took a couple hours to find out about Powell’s medical history, to know all the facts. The people who jumped to conclusions and make their assumptions, that’s part of the problem. When you don’t know everything, you shouldn’t make assumptions.”
Stelter concluded by lamenting that “every once in a while, there is a doctor who says the right thing” on Fox News’ air, “but for the most part, it’s the Tucker Carlsons of the world that get all the airtime, and they are dragging us backwards.”
Recent Covid analyses have suggested that the pandemic might be prolonged due to the virus’ continued spread among unvaccinated, geographically clustered portions of the population. Since these trends lead to case spikes, continued transmission, and opportunities for the virus to mutate, they mark a setback for America’s chances of reaching herd immunity. This is especially true if vaccination rates don’t pick up since vaccines are known to lower Covid’s contagiousness level, and people who have breakthrough cases are much less likely to die.
Watch above, via CNN.