On Wednesday, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton tweeted a disapproving message about Fox News television host Tucker Carlson, seemingly calling for Facebook to ban his content.
The tweet came in response to a post that received attention online from various Twitter users regarding Carlson’s comments about the current vaccination campaign in the United States.
The Biden administration recently moved to pause the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. On Friday, The Daily Wire reported that the “Biden administration’s decision to call for a pause to the Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine has caused confidence in the vaccine to plummet, according to a new poll.”
The Daily Wire reported:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the pause recommendation earlier this week after six women in the U.S. developed a rare blood-clotting disorder. More than 7 million people in the U.S. have so far received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
In a segment of his show that was published as an opinion piece on Wednesday, Carlson questioned why the federal government decided to pause the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the midst of a massive government effort to get many Americans vaccinated.
Carlson generally defended vaccines, saying, “We’re not against it on principle. Like most Americans, we’re grateful for vaccines. But before we take this one, a few questions about this specific one. There are two things we’d like to know, and neither one has anything to do with how many professional athletes or Netflix stars have been vaccinated so far. We don’t care. It’s irrelevant. Here’s what is relevant. The first question: Is the vaccine safe? The second question: Is it effective? Safe and effective. That’s all that matters.”
The Hill reported, “According to data from the social media tool CrowdTangle, Carlson’s segment had become the most popular post on Facebook by Wednesday.”
In his show, Carlson questioned whether or not the data being released to the public was factual and asked why government authorities have pushed for more lockdowns in the midst of the vaccine rollout. Carlson said, “They do tell us we have to shut things down, just like we did last year before we had a vaccine. But now we have a vaccine, so why are we shutting them down again? What’s going on here? We’re not sure.”
The television show host wondered why Americans are not able to return to their normal lives once they have been vaccinated, voicing concerns that have led to many people not wanting to get vaccinated. He said, “At some point – no one’s asking this, but everyone should be – what is this about? If the vaccines work, why are vaccinated people still banned from living normal lives?”
Chelsea Clinton seemed to address Carlson’s main comments about “a legitimate mystery” surrounding the vaccine rollout. In his show, however, Carlson questioned why reporters are not doing a better job of understanding more about the vaccination efforts and asking questions about the concerns that many Americans have.
Carlson said, “The vaccine can’t simultaneously be highly effective and not restore people’s lives to normal. They don’t tell you to avoid water fountains after you get the polio vaccine. They don’t need to tell you that because the polio vaccine works. So there’s a legitimate mystery here, at the heart of the most aggressive vaccination campaign [in] American history. You’d think journalists might sort this out for the rest of us. That’s their job. It’s a major important story. What’s the answer?”
Chelsea Clinton responded to a tweet that contained a screenshot of a Facebook post of Carlson discussing the vaccine. The Facebook post had received over 590,000 total views at the time. The tweet from Jesse Lehrich, former foreign policy spokesman for Hillary Clinton, said “the #1 post on @Facebook about vaccines today is Tucker Carlson suggesting they don’t work.”
Clinton responded to the tweet, saying, “In December, @facebook banned claims about #covid19 vaccines ‘that have been debunked by public health experts.’ And yet [arrow pointing down]. Especially troubling given Republican men are currently most likely to say they’re not interested in being vaccinated.”
In December, @facebook banned claims about #covid19 vaccines “that have been debunked by public health experts.” And yet ⬇️. Especially troubling given Republican men are currently most likely to say they’re not interested in being vaccinated. https://t.co/NHWwn8vQ31
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 14, 2021
Some users responded to Clinton’s tweet, calling her out over various issues, such as the apparent hypocrisy of the statement. One person wrote, “I don’t remember you calling out Kamala and Joe last year for saying they wouldn’t trust the vaccine.”
The FDA granted emergency authorization for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in February for use in individuals 18 or older. An FDA analysis of trial data found that no one who received the vaccine was hospitalized for COVID-19 or died from COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the vaccine was administered.
The FDA and CDC have called for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s administration to be paused as officials examine a potential link to a type of rare blood clot. Six cases of the blood clot have been reported in the U.S., and more than 6.8 million people have received the one-shot vaccine across the country.
According to the CDC’s official website: “Over 189 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through April 12, 2021.”
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The vaccines met FDA’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization (EUA). […]
Serious side effects that would cause a long-term health problem are extremely unlikely following COVID-19 vaccination. Long-term side effects following any vaccination are extremely rare. Vaccine monitoring has historically shown that if side effects are going to happen, they generally happen within six weeks of receiving a vaccine dose.