Many Fox News hosts have railed against mandates, especially when it comes to vaccines, but it’s crickets today as their own employer mandates they enter their vaccine status in the company’s database before returning to the building. This is just one of the steps the channel is taking “given the recent rise in COVID cases.” The memo stops short of saying employees must get vaccinated, but it lists a series of precautions including mandatory testing.
It’s hard for anchors to continue to bash vaccines after this (though we suspect they will). The New York Times recently wrote, “Mr. Carlson, Ms. Ingraham and guests on their programs have said on the air that the vaccines could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them.” Recently Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade said only a doctor should weigh in on whether someone should get the vaccine. In other words, employers (and tv personalities) shouldn’t be pushing them.
Tucker Carlson has repeatedly suggested to reporters who ask him about his vaccination status that the question is akin to asking about their sex life. And Sean Hannity has repeatedly talked up “doctor-patient confidentiality.”
Fox News spokespeople did not respond when asked about the discrepancy between the rhetoric from the channel’s top stars and its own internal policies.
