ER Doctor Blames Fox News for Spike In Covid Infections: ‘Poisoning’ Minds With ‘Deceptive Propaganda’
An emergency physician in Michigan sees a spike in Covid-19 infections among unvaccinated patients and lays specific blame on Fox News and other conservative media outlets. Dr. Rob Davidson explained his perspective Monday morning on CNN’s New Day after writing a column published over the weekend at NBC News’ Think website.
Davidson explains his experience as an emergency physician and the anger, outrage, and denial his patients express when told they have a disease that “not long ago was the leading cause of death in the United States.” But he doesn’t blame his patients for their refusal to get vaccinated. He blames “Fox News and other right-wing media outlets for poisoning the minds of millions of Americans with the deceptive propaganda they spray into living rooms 24/7.”
From his column:
A patient walks in, struggling to breathe, complaining of pains and symptoms consistent with Covid-19. We recommend a test. Sometimes the patient declines, saying they don’t care whether they have a disease that not too long ago was the leading cause of death in the United States. When we suggest patients isolate themselves to prevent Covid-19 from spreading, sometimes they refuse. When we tell some patients and their family of a positive Covid-19 diagnosis, the response we get too many times is anger, outrage or denial. Just a few days ago, an older woman came into our emergency department, refusing to follow hospital policy to wear a mask and flatly refusing — like too many people in our community — to get vaccinated.
I don’t blame my patients for their refusal. What breaks my heart, as someone who took an oath to prevent harm, is that my patients choose to abandon the science and evidence that can save their lives. I do blame Fox News and other right-wing media outlets for poisoning the minds of millions of Americans with the deceptive propaganda they spray into living rooms 24/7.
This isn’t just my experience. As executive director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, an organization of medical professionals across the country, I hear stories like these from members every day.
Brianna Keillar asked his guest, “Is there any specific misinformation that they’re citing? Or is it sort of vague as you just described, that you asked someone, you probed their concern, and it turns out they don’t actually have a concrete concern?”
“It’s extremely vague,” Dr. Davidson replied. “With this one disease, we have a huge number of people getting their information in so many other places, including Fox and others it’s just going completely against what we, as healthcare professionals, are telling them to do.”
Keilar followed by noting how, according to Dr. Davidson’s column, one predictor of vaccine refusal is Fox News viewership. “You also note they should listen to their family doctors for medical advice, not Sean Hannity, whom researchers connected to higher infection rates.”
Davidson cites his wife, who is also a practicing medical professional. “Listen, just like I recommend mammograms and other screening tests, if I didn’t talk to you about this and then you catch it and get extremely sick or die, I’m going to lose sleep over it. I’m going to feel bad about it and feel like I didn’t do my duty,” he relayed her saying to Keilar.
According to the CDC, almost all Covid-19 deaths are currently among unvaccinated Americans, so they are nearly all preventable deaths.
Watch above via CNN.
