A day after Tucker Carlson called for Americans to stage “mass resistance” efforts against the Biden administration’s workforce vaccine directive and theorized that the government’s next move will be forcing conservatives to take “psychotropic” injections for voicing the “wrong” opinions, Fox Corp. H.R. chief Kevin Lord announced that 90% of Fox’s full-time employees are fully vaccinated. Carlson’s on-air comments juxtaposed with Lord’s memo, which was obtained by CNN, highlights the chasm between the reckless anti-vax rhetoric spewed by Fox’s top hosts and the reality of the network’s responsible pro-vaccine policies inside.
Fox’s stringent COVID-19 protocols have earned the company praise from an unexpected place. “Today’s news from Fox News follows a trend were seeing across the country: vaccination and testing requirements work,” a White House spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday night. “We are glad they have stepped up to protect their workforce and strengthen the economy, and we encourage them [to] convey to their audience that these types of practices will protect their employees, their communities, and the economy.” The White House has previously stated that it is not interested in a “fight” with Fox News and announced that it stays in contact with the network regarding its COVID-19 coverage, but Joe Biden has publicly noted that Fox “is not a big fan of mine” and in July said some of its hosts had “an altar call” when it comes to vaccines. “Some of those [hosts], all of a sudden they’re out there saying, ‘Let’s get vaccinated, let’s get vaccinated,’” he said. (Though Biden didn’t name any specific hosts at the time, his comments followed Sean Hannity saying he believed in “the science of vaccination.”)
Last week, in an attempt to offset the rising cases and deaths caused by the delta variant surge, Biden ordered the Labor Department to draft an emergency temporary directive requiring private companies with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either fully vaccinated or take weekly COVID tests. Such commonsense public health efforts, in the midst of a global pandemic, led to a right-wing meltdown, with Republican politicians and conservative pundits hyperventilating about “tyranny” and “totalitarianism.” Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway said that Biden’s vaccine push will “require everybody to stand up and resist and fight,” while Fox & Friends Weekend cohost Rachel Campos-Duffy insisted that “it is the beginning of the communist-style social credit system…where if you’re a dissident, if you don’t agree with the party in power, you will be punished.” On his Friday night program, Hannity told his viewers that they “better get the vaccine or Dr. Joe Biden is going to unleash the full force of the federal government against you and your loved ones and your employer. And you will be canceled in society altogether. You will be shut out of everything.” During Fox’s coverage last week, one of its chyrons exclaimed that “BIDEN IS AN AUTHORITARIAN,” while another warned that “BIDEN DECLARES WAR ON MILLIONS OF AMERICANS” by enacting an employee vaccine mandate.
Notably, the Fox Corp. vaccine memo suggests the network already has a more severe employee vaccination policy than what the Biden administration is requiring and is using a form of “vaccine passports,” an anti-vax buzzword that Fox’s hosts have continually railed against. While Biden’s new workforce COVID mandate only requires weekly COVID testing, Lord said there will be “daily COVID testing for the small group of employees who are not vaccinated or have not provided their vaccination status.” When Biden met with business leaders Wednesday at the White House, he even touted the network’s efforts. “The vaccine requirements work, and more companies are instituting them—even at Fox News they’ve been required.” he said. “I’m not being facetious when I say that, but it’s interesting that they’ve stepped forward and done that as well.”
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