Fox News may have made vaccine skepticism mainstream among conservatives

The New York Times

Although Rupert Murdoch got vaccinated last December, his conservative-leaning cable news outlet has led the effort to cast doubt on vaccinations, with primetime hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham leading the way. "Opposition to vaccines was once relegated to the fringes of American politics, and the rhetoric on Fox News has coincided with efforts by right-wing extremists to bash vaccination efforts," reports The New York Times' Tiffany Hsu. "Served up to an audience that is more likely than the general population to be wary of Covid vaccines, the remarks by Mr. Carlson and Ms. Ingraham echoed a now-common conservative talking point — that the government-led effort to raise vaccination rates amounted to a violation of civil liberties and a waste of taxpayer dollars. The comments by the Fox News hosts and their guests may have also helped cement vaccine skepticism in the conservative mainstream, even as the Biden administration’s campaign to inoculate the public is running into resistance in many parts of the country. Public health experts have said that a strong vaccination effort is critical for the United States to outrun the virus, which has killed more than four million people worldwide and continues to mutate. The amplification of vaccine skepticism through conservative media channels could harden the reluctance of those who might otherwise have been persuaded to get a shot, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania." A Fox News spokesperson counters that Carlson and Ingraham have, in past months, expressed support for people getting vaccinated. ALSO: Tucker Carlson insisted Monday night that he's not against getting vaccinated and denied ever attack vaccines on his show.