There are unreasonable, irrational sentiments about the coronavirus vaccines on both sides of the political aisle but the media only want to demonize one side. On The View today, the hosts were supposed to be talking about how logical it was for vaccinated President Biden to continue to wear masks everywhere, but instead, the liberal hosts praised Biden and blamed Republicans and evangelical Christians for spreading the virus. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg even claimed she would continue to wear a mask for decades to come if that’s what it took for everyone to get the vaccine.
After co-host Sara Haines complained no one should be criticizing Biden for “erring on the side of safety,” co-host Sunny Hostin instead blamed Republicans and white evangelicals for being vaccine hesitant. She argued they should be “shunned” from public spaces and travel if they couldn’t prove they were vaccinated:
White evangelicals, 45% said they won't get vaccinated. Almost 50% of Republicans are refusing to get the vaccine. So we won't reach herd immunity because of those particular groups. So I say we need to shun those that refuse to get vaccinated just like now in certain states, many states, I know in New York there are signs on storefronts on businesses all across the state ‘no mask, no entry.’ I think if you have not been vaccinated, no entry. You want to get on a plane, you have to be vaccinated. Show proof of vaccination. And those people don't want to get vaccinated, that's fine for you, but then you can't spread it to other people that are vaccinated. You can't spread it to other people -- rather that are also not vaccinated. You don't get those other liberties that come with immunity.
Whoopi then asked Meghan McCain if she thought this was a good idea. McCain accurately pointed out that this wasn't the tone taken when it was minorities who had concerns about the vaccine. She completely demolished the messaging coming from the White House on masks and vaccines while criticizing the extremist suggestions coming from the left towards the vaccine hesitant on the right:
I mean, honestly when we were first talking about vaccine hesitancy on this show month and months and months ago a lot of it centered around minority populations who were hesitant because of valid things like the Tuskegee experiment. The narrative and the feeling coming out was compassion and trying to convince people in a way of empathy that you know we all are in this together. We should get vaccinated together. It was effective. The message to evangelicals and Republicans is you dumb hillbillies stay the hell away from me. I don’t think it’s not going to convince anyone of anything if that’s the message coming out of the White House.
...If the vaccine is more than 94% effective, which we're told by science,and the CDC and all the smart people who come on the show says it is. If the vaccine works why do we have to wear masks outdoors and inside? That's also part of the messaging problem. Because if you get a vaccine and nothing in your life changes and I still have to wear a mask everywhere, then there's not -- I'm sorry, but the way human nature works and human beings work there has to be an impetus and a reason to get vaccinated to get what you want. I'm horrified by the way people are talking to Republicans right now in this way. I think we should try and lead people along instead of saying they're dumb morons in the middle of the country that are going to kill everybody. It's just not effective.
Whoopi disagreed this was the messaging being put out, before claiming that without 100 percent mask compliance, our ability to defeat the virus would be “spotty” like “WiFi."
The co-host also stated she wouldn’t feel safe to go anywhere without a mask until she was "probably in her 90s," until every single person was vaccinated, despite being vaccinated herself:
“Quite frankly I'm not going outside until I know everybody outside has had the shot. So I'm going to be wearing my mask, probably you know, into my 90s. But that’s just me though,” Whoopi said.
All of this was also rather ironic, considering The View once had a co-host who spread debunked conspiracy theories about vaccines.
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Read the transcript portions below:
The View
5/3/2021
SUNNY HOSTIN: [W]e now know that studies show, had the pandemic been dealt with in a different way, in a public health manner and had these masks and efforts not been politicized the way they were, we could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, including the lives of my in-laws. I will say, when you look at the folks who are not getting vaccinated, because its a quarter of Americans who are not getting vaccinated, white evangelicals, 45% said they won't get vaccinated. Almost 50% of Republicans are refusing to get the vaccine. So we won't reach herd immunity because of those particular groups. So I say we need to shun those that refuse to get vaccinated just like now in certain states, many states, I know in New York there are signs on storefronts on businesses all across the state ‘no mask, no entry.’ I think if you have not been vaccinated, no entry. You want to get on a plane, you have to be vaccinated. Show proof of vaccination. And those people don't want to get vaccinated, that's fine for you, but then you can't spread it to other people that are vaccinated. You can't spread it to other people -- rather that are also not vaccinated. You don't get those other liberties that come with immunity. Something has to break. If that's your personal choice not to get vaccinated, you don't then get to infringe on the rights of those who have chosen to protect their fellow citizens.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Okay. Meghan, does that sound like something that would convince you to convince people to get the shot?
MEGHAN MCCAIN: No. I mean, honestly when we were first talking about vaccine hesitancy on this show month and months and months ago a lot of it centered around minority populations who were hesitant because of valid things like the Tuskegee experiment. The narrative and the feeling coming out was compassion and trying to convince people in a way of empathy that you know we all are in this together. We should get vaccinated together. It was effective. The message to evangelicals and Republicans is you dumb hillbillies stay the hell away from me. I don’t think it’s not going to convince anyone of anything if that’s the message coming out of the White House. I have tried and -- I had an idea for an ad campaign that specifically targeted towards Republicans and evangelicals that I proposed that has gone on deaf ears on everyone. The messaging on this is absolute garbage towards conservatives and Republicans. It’s getting worse. It's a public health crisis. I agree we should all be vaccinated. I myself am vaccinated. I have no problem with vaccines. But the messaging is psychotic. I just want to say in Brookline, Massachusetts, they just rejected in the city the guidance to wear masks outdoors. So if you live in Brookline, Massachusetts, you have to wear a mask outdoors. If you live in Florida, the surgeon general says you don't have to wear a mask anywhere. It feels like it's more about control than science. If the vaccine is more than 94% effective, which we're told by science,and the CDC and all the smart people who come on the show says it is. If the vaccine works why do we have to wear masks outdoors and inside? That's also part of the messaging problem. Because if you get a vaccine and nothing in your life changes and I still have to wear a mask everywhere, then there's not -- I'm sorry, but the way human nature works and human beings work there has to be an impetus and a reason to get vaccinated to get what you want. I'm horrified by the way people are talking to Republicans right now in this way. I think we should try and lead people along instead of saying they're dumb morons in the middle of the country that are going to kill everybody. It's just not effective.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I don't know that everybody is saying that. But I do think that part of the problem is that if we don't all do it, if we don't all do it, if we don’t all wear the mask, it means it's spotty. It's like WiFi, you know. It's just not smooth. The truth of the matter is, yeah, there's a lot of reasons to be concerned about your personal space. But at some point it becomes about what is good for the country and we're seeing that the -- what's happening in India -- we've lived through that already. We know. We're seeing sort of the responses our country is having to our ability to get vaccinated. People desperate to get vaccinated in different places around the world would -- you know, would crawl here to get this vaccine. Now, it's not -- it's not rocket science, you know. This is what we have. Remember when measles wasn't an issue and then it became an issue because people stopped vaccinating their kids? Then we had nothing but measles outbreaks. There's something to be said for paying attention to that. We need to do this. It's not going to allow us to be without masks until we all do it. Because quite frankly I'm not going outside until I know everybody outside has had the shot. So I'm going to be wearing my mask, probably you know, into my 90s. That’s just me though. We’ll be right back.
