Tucker Carlson slams states like California that are not prioritizing the elderly and instead giving vaccine to black communities first, saying 'old people in this country are too white to save'
Tucker Carlson has told his viewers he believes that the coronavirus vaccine is being distributed based soley on race, claiming that elderly old white people are not receiving the shot first in many places because they are from a 'disfavored race'.
On his Friday night show, he said that the government's plan to prioritize non-healthcare essential workers over the eldery is an example of eugenics because 'racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented in many essential industries'.
'Old people in this country are too white to save. They even put it in writing,' he claimed, while blasting the vaccine rollout as 'entirely racial'.
He also cited examples in California and Oregon where health officials have announced measures that will ensure black and brown communities have extended access to the vaccine.
It comes after black and Indignenous Americans were shown to have the highest death rates from the virus. Black, indigenous and latino Americans all have a COVID-19 death rate of more than 2.7 times white Americans, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates, according to APM Research Lab.
But Carlson hit out the measures, claiming it tells Americans 'when you're the right color, you're essential'.
Tucker Carlson used his show on Friday night to express more concern about the vaccine
Carlson said he was not 'a conspiracy nut' for asking questions about its safety
'According to the CDC's own models, the way to save the most Americans is to give the vaccine to front-line health care workers first and then to the elderly, meaning people over the age of 65,' Carlson said during his monologue.
'Older people are by far the most vulnerable.
'But in this country, a panel of ideologues at the CDC has decided that the elderly should not be at the front of the line,' he claimed.
Carlson noted that the CDC's Vaccine Advisory Committee has approved the rollout recommendations of Dr. Kathleen Dooling who said that eldery should not be given the top priority as 'racial and ethnic minority groups under-represented among adults'.
It instead recommended that 'non-healthcare essential workers' should get the vaccine first as 'racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately represented in many essential industries'.
'In other words, it's entirely racial,' Carlson alleged. 'They're making the decision based on race.'
'Kathleen Dooling's presentation concluded that doling out life-saving medicine on the basis of skin color would "mitigate health inequities." Of course it would kill people, and she effectively concedes that. But the people it would kill come from a disfavored race, so it's not a big deal.
'It's been a very long time since anyone close to what we would consider the mainstream has endorsed eugenics, but that's exactly what this is,' he concluded.
'When was the last time you heard someone say something like that out loud in this country? Probably not since around 1945, when we all agreed that letting certain people die because of their race was bad public policy, not to mention evil.'
He was referencing the decision made in the likes of California and Oregon where officials have implemented measures to ensure black and brown people have extended access to the vaccine.
Carlson also claimed that the vaccine rollout would only divide the country further but telling Americans 'when you're the right color, you're essential'.
'When you are planning to distribute life-saving medicines on the basis of race, not on the basis of science, but on the basis of race, you are by definition dividing the country more deeply and more permanently than you could under any circumstances,' he said.
'Nothing is worse than that if you want a cohesive country.
'The case they're making is when you're the right color, you're essential, and that makes sense, considering that increasingly your color is your essence,' Carlson continued.
'It's the most important thing about you. In this case, it can determine whether you live or die. That's the country they are creating.'
Also on the show, Carlson claimed he is not 'a conspiracy nut' for questioning the science behind the coronavirus vaccine, doubling down on skepticism that saw him roundly criticized the night before.
Carlson blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom, pictured, over measures that will ensure black and brown communities have extended access to the vaccine
On Thursday night Carlson said he had significant doubts about the safety of the vaccine, and on Friday he defended himself from the subsequent onslaught of condemnation.
His Fox News viewers, he said, 'should be nervous.'
'It's not superstition,' he continued. 'There are rational reasons to be skeptical and ask questions.'
Carlson spoke on the day that Mike Pence, the vice president, and Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, were vaccinated live on television in a bid to calm concerns among the public.
After they received their injections, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top public health expert, used the live broadcast to try and reassure Americans that the vaccine was safe. The speed of the vaccine was due to advances in technology, he said, and no corners had been cut.
Carlson remained unconvinced.
'There has never been a successful vaccine for any variety of the coronavirus,' he said on Friday.
Mike Pence, the vice president, was given the vaccine live on television on Friday
Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, was also inoculated on live television on Friday
'The last one that scientists developed for SARS proved too dangerous to bring to market. Nor has any vaccine ever been developed as quickly as this one. The only attempt that came close was the mumps vaccine, in 1967, and that took four years.
'The authorities assure us that the new vaccine is completely safe. We want to believe that badly. On the other hand, it's not crazy to wonder.'
Carlson referenced Tiffany Pontes Dover, a 30-year-old mother-of-two and nurse manager at CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who fainted after getting the vaccine live on television on Thursday.
Dover, who frequently faints after injections, was speaking to local news outlet News Channel 9 when she suddenly started feeling unwell.
'It's really... I'm sorry I'm feeling really dizzy. I'm sorry...,' she said before dropping to the ground while two colleagues rushed to catch her.
Tiffany Dover fainted after getting vaccinated - which she said is a frequent occurrence
She then recovered and said she often faints when she feels pain so it came as no surprise.
'It just hit me all of a sudden... I feel fine now! It's common for me,' she said.
Carlson used Dover as a reason for skepticism about the effects of the vaccine.
'You are not a conspiracy nut for wanting answers,' Carlson said.
'Rushed development and a clumsy roll out do not fully explain' the handful of incidents of adverse reactions, such as the three nurses in Alaska who have suffered allergic responses.
He went on to say people should be concerned about 'the people in charge of the vaccine,' saying they have a 'basic moral rottenness' and that 'the worst in our already unimpressive professional class are now in charge of the coronavirus vaccine, and that should make you nervous.'
'Americans understand that most of their leaders really do not care about them,' said Carlson.
Carlson's views angered some, with multiple people pointing out that his comments on Thursday were made while Rupert Murdoch, Fox News owner, was given the vaccine.
'Rupert Murdoch got the Covid vaccine the day after Tucker Carlson spent his entire show sowing doubt about the Covid vaccine,' noted Molly Jong-Fast, editor at large of The Daily Beast.
'Tucker Carlson is going to get people killed,' said Dr Miranda Yaver, a health policy political scientist at the University of California in LA.
And Steven Greenhouse, a former New York Times reporter, joked: 'If only the vaccine could tell its audience of 328 million people in the United States not to trust Tucker Carlson.'
