A prominent doctor is pushing back on Fox News host Tucker Carlson for suggesting that nearly 4,000 Americans have died due to taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
Carlson made the remarks during an opening monologue Wednesday night that began with him asking, "How many Americans have died after taking the COVID vaccines?" Carlson then asserted that "an average of roughly 30 people every day" have died after taking the COVID vaccines, for a total of "almost 4000 people who died after getting" the shot.
Carlson cited data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a system that allows anyone to report an adverse event. Significantly, VAERS itself says it collects all data, whether it is "coincidental or truly caused by a vaccine." A report to VAERS "is not documentation that a vaccine caused the event," the VAERS website says.
Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, confronted Carlson's arguments in a social media post.
"You're spreading dangerous and deadly lies about COVID vaccines on your show nightly. But I think you know that. If you'd like to have a real discussion about the vaccines, send me a message, and I'd happily come on the show," Spencer tweeted.
Hi @TuckerCarlson. So, you’re spreading dangerous and deadly lies about Covid vaccines on your show nightly. But I think you know that.
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) May 6, 2021
If you’d like to have a real discussion about the vaccines, send me a message and I’d happily come on the show.https://t.co/IXAb7x4w3S
"... We prioritized high-risk groups for vaccination. You know, like the elderly. As in, some of the same people whose risk of dying was actually just kinda high at baseline. Did some of them die after getting a vaccine? Yes. Did some of them die the day before they were gonna get vaccinated? Yes. Did either of those scenarios have anything to do with the vaccine? No. Show me that the death rate in those vaccinated was any higher than the baseline death rate. It isn't. In fact, it's the opposite."
Let me make this very simple for you @TuckerCarlson.
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) May 6, 2021
We prioritized high-risk groups for vaccination. You know, like the elderly. As in, some of the same people whose risk of dying was actually just kinda high at baseline.
Did some of them die after getting a vaccine? Yes.
The vaccines, Spencer argued, have led to a plunge in the COVID infection rate and death rate.
"The death rate, especially in high-risk populations, dropped precipitously. Like, immediately," Spencer said in a tweet that included a graphic.
"You're either too smart to know better or too dumb to be talking with any authority to anyone about this, let alone millions of Americans," Spencer wrote. "Your nightly lying and spreading of disinformation is responsible for more deaths than you attribute to the vaccine."
Here's what actually happened:
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) May 6, 2021
The death rate, especially in high-risk populations, dropped precipitously. Like, immediately.
Covid19 was the third-leading cause of death last year. A fact that you frequently downplayed on your show. pic.twitter.com/LSUw2Gg4L8
As of Thursday, 149 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to Bloomberg's vaccine tracker. That's 57 percent of the adult population.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Rich Polk/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
