Tucker Carlson Pretends His Questions Don’t Have Answers Again: ‘Why Are So Many Vaccinated People Getting Covid?’

Yet again, Fox News host Tucker Carlson entered his “just asking questions” mode with respect to the Covid-19 vaccine.

On Wednesday, the network’s doubtcaster-in-chief on the vaccine highlighted a few individual examples of fully vaccinated people who nonetheless contracted Covid-19, as if we’d all been told such a thing was impossible when we actually weren’t told that. He also falsely claimed that medical experts have said that “this vaccine is perfect.”

The fact that people can still acquire Covid after being vaccinated has been made clear from the start. Getting the vaccine does not guarantee you will not get Covid-19. In fact, months ago we were having national conversations about how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is about 66% effective, the Pfizer vaccine is about 94% effective, and so forth. Pfizer said as much about its vaccine after a clinical trial all the way back in November. Of course, this data could change depending on the rise of the more contagious delta variant, but it’s been made plain for some time now that it’s possible to contract Covid after being vaccinated. Pretending we hadn’t been told this, as Carlson does, is to traffic in bullshit.

Carlson used this dishonest framing to ask, as if he doesn’t know the answer, “If the vaccine works as well as they claim it does, why are so many vaccinated people getting Covid?”

He went on:

It’s happening to a lot of people, probably people you know. Most of them are fine. Not all of them, but they’re still getting Covid. Piers Morgan tested positive for Covid after taking both doses of the AstraZeneca shot in the U.K. Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich also tested positive after getting vaccinated. A medical assistant from Minneapolis called Jummai Nache had to have her legs amputated after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. And in New Orleans, a 33-year-old fully vaccinated business owner called Angelle Mosley just died of corona.

Now why did this happen?

We don’t know.

So far, about 163 million Americans have been fully vaccinated. If you know that the vaccines aren’t 100% effective, which Carlson does, it certainly wouldn’t shock you if millions of these 163 million people get Covid at some point over the coming months and years. But thanks to the vaccine, those people are far less likely to experience particularly nasty symptoms that may lead to hospitalization or even death.

To wit, U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky noted earlier this month that more than 97% of people being hospitalized for Covid now are unvaccinated. Additionally, 99.5% of deaths are among unvaccinated people.

Carlson has access to this data, and it’s quite possible he already knows this information. But he chose not to include it in the segment. He knows that being fully vaccinated against Covid greatly reduces chances of hospitalization and death if you catch the virus. Again, however, he opted not to mention such important and readily available information that’s crucially relevant to what he’s talking about.

Now why did this happen?

We do know.

It’s the same reason why Carlson has given vaccine skeptic Alex Berenson – “the pandemic’s wrongest man” – a platform numerous times on his show to spout nonsense. Berenson, of course, was cheered at CPAC this month after pointing out that the government was unable to “sucker” many people into getting the vaccine.

The reason Carlson omits information showing that the vaccine is safe and effective is because there is, unfortunately, a market for pretending otherwise.

Carlson also claimed on Wednesday that “it’s becoming really clear the science is slightly more complicated” than what Walensky has been letting on.

“It doesn’t mean the vaccine doesn’t work or it’s not worth taking,” he said, adding the obligatory qualifier so that he can later say he never told anyone not to get the vaccine.

“It doesn’t always work,” he pointed out as though it hasn’t been pointed out the world over. “You know people who’ve gotten Covid after getting a double vax. Again, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking, but stop lying to us. If you want us to have confidence in your medicine, then tell us the full truth. But they won’t. They have been telling us for six months that this vaccine is perfect, but clearly in some cases it doesn’t always work.”

Again, no reputable medical professionals have said the vaccine prevents you from getting Covid. There can, and will continue to be breakthrough cases.

During the segment, Carlson also called Dr. Anthony Fauci, “the guy who created Covid.” Presumably it was a reference to the claim that his agency provided a grant that potentially funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology where the virus may have originated.

Carlson also cited an alleged alleged purchasing agreement – whose authenticity I’m still attempting to verify – between Pfizer and the government of Albania so he could cast further doubt on the vaccine. The supposed agreement read in part, “Purchaser acknowledges… the long-term effects and efficacy of the accine are not currently known and that there may be adverse effects of the vaccine that are not currently known.”

If that document is legitimate, the language in it sounds like garden-variety corporate ass-covering more than a suggestion that the vaccine might have unknown adverse side effects. But for Carlson, it’s just the kind of “inside information” that adds a flourish to his gross and mendacious monologue.

“Why don’t we know?” the Fox News host asked about the long-term effects of the vaccine, ignoring the fact that it was just developed late last year. “Is that reassuring? And what are those effects? We don’t we know, and why can’t we ask?”

Carlson, of course, asked these supposedly un-askable questions on the most watched program on cable news.

There’s been some debate among liberals as to whether Carlson believes what he’s saying about the vaccine or is just playing a role. But that question misses the point entirely. The bigger question, which Fox News doesn’t want us to ask, is, how many people has Tucker Carlson gotten sick and killed?

We don’t know, and why can’t we ask?

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.