News and Analysis

Neil Cavuto Returns To Fox News, Explains Absence After Weeks Off The Air

   DailyWire.com
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 14: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Neil Cavuto hosts "Your World With Neil Cavuto" on at FOX Business Studios November 14, 2019 in New York, United States. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Fox News and Fox Business viewers have noticed in recent weeks that “Your World” and “Coast to Coast” anchor Neil Cavuto has been missing from his shows since mid-January — but until Monday, the network had not offered any explanation for his absence.

During Monday’s broadcast of “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” the anchor detailed a recent battle with COVID-19 that landed him in the Intensive Care Unit — and touted the vaccine that he said had most likely saved his life.

WATCH:

“So here goes … I did get COVID again, but a far, far more serious strand — what doctors call COVID pneumonia. It landed me in intensive care for quite awhile and it really was touch-and-go. Some of you who’ve wanted to put me out of my misery darn near got what you wished for! So, sorry to disappoint you,” Cavuto began.

Cavuto went on to explain that because of his immunocompromised status — he has had cancer in the past and is currently battling the autoimmune disease Multiple Sclerosis — he was not only at greater risk for complications of COVID-19, but he was also part of the very small segment of the population for whom vaccines were not quite as effective.

“But let me be clear, doctors say had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn’t be here,” he continued. “It provided some defense, but that is still better than no defense. Maybe not great comfort for some of you. And frankly, not great comfort for me either!”

“This was scary. How scary? I’m talking Ponderosa suddenly out of the prime rib in the middle of the buffet line scary! That’s how scary,” Cavuto added with a smile. He concluded by saying that he didn’t intend to start a debate on vaccines, but that he felt he owed viewers an explanation for his lengthy absence from his shows.

Cavuto has been off the air since January 11, and in his absence, a number of Fox News and Fox Business hosts have stepped up to fill the gap — among them “America Reports” anchor Sandra Smith, “Making Money” host Charles Payne, and “Bulls & Bears” host David Asman.

Cavuto had previously missed several days back in October after contracting COVID-19 for the first time, returning to the air with an impassioned plea to viewers to get vaccinated. He noted Monday that the network’s decision to make no announcement when he contracted the virus for a second time was his idea.

“I asked them not to say anything. They were honoring my wishes out of respect for my privacy, even though they were getting a lot of heat trying to protect my privacy. I wasn’t really hiding anything. I just felt I wasn’t the story,” he said.

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