Fox News' COVID-19 vaccination coverage is still mess, despite Sean Hannity urging his viewers to “please take COVID seriously”

Vox

Hannity was applauded for saying Monday night, "please take COVID seriously. I can't say it enough. Enough people have died. We don't need any more death. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor... I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination." As Vox's Aaron Rupar points out, Hannity's show was sandwiched between Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham spreading vaccine disinformation. Rupar also notes that Hannity's statement on vaccines "came immediately before he pivoted to a story about a college athlete who was temporarily paralyzed after she took a different sort of vaccine in 2019 — the subtext being that inoculations are more dangerous than the experts would have you believe and that mandates are ill-advised. (Hannity has previously tried to discredit COVID-19 vaccines by saying stuff like, 'the great Dr. Fauci has been wrong so often' and proclaiming he was “beginning to have doubts” about getting the shot.)" Earlier on Monday, Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy also urged viewers to get vaccinated, saying: “If you have the chance, get the shot. It will save your life.” But," says Rupar, "Doocy was undermined by Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, who claimed in response that it’s not the government’s job 'to protect anybody' and said of those who choose not to get vaccinated, 'if you feel as though this is not something for you, don’t do it, but don’t affect my life.' (A person’s choice to not get vaccinated does in fact affect other people by making it more possible for deadlier mutations of the virus to develop.)" ALSO: The White House says it has had “regular contact’ with Fox News -- and other networks -- over vaccine coverage, though a Fox News spokesperson says there has been no high-level talks.