Children of 45-year-old unvaccinated COVID-19 victim discuss how he watched vaccine conspiracy theories from Fox News
“He watched some Tucker Carlson videos on YouTube”
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From the September 20, 2021, edition of CNN's New Day with John Berman and Brianna Keilar
JOHN BERMAN (CNN HOST): A Washington family grieving the loss of Patrick Lane, a father of two who recently died of covid at the age of 45. Patrick was not vaccinated. Patrick Lane's children join me, Katie and Evan Lane. Guys, I'm so sorry for the loss of your father. It's such a tragedy and I know it's been hard on both of you and Katie, he had just moved you into college like a month ago, right?
KATIE LANE (GUEST) Yeah, it was one month ago that he was completely healthy, helping me move all my furniture into my first apartment, doing all the heavy lifting for me.
BERMAN: And he moved you in, this is your first apartment at college, I might add. He moved you in there, he stayed the night with you and what did he say to you as he was leaving?
KATIE LANE: He gave me a really big hug and he said I'm proud of you, Katie bug. And he walked out my front door, and if I had known that that was going to be my last time seeing my dad in person alive and well, I don't think I would have let go of him.
BERMAN: Why was he so hesitant to get vaccinated, Katie?
KATIE LANE: There's multiple reasons, I think, one of which was some of the media that he ingested. He wasn't by any means far-right. He was right in the middle, and he consumed media from both sides, and just some of the misinformation on one of those sides made him hesitant. So he was going to wait for FDA approval, but by the time that Pfizer had been approved, it was already too late.
BERMAN: Pfizer got the full FDA approval and your father was already sick. Evan, talk to me about your final goodbye to your father. Did you have a chance to spend any real time with him?
EVAN LANE (GUEST): Not really. I was already staying at another house, and he was just coming by to pick something up and he didn't even want to get too close because he was too worried about getting me sick so I didn't even get to hug him before he left, and then before I knew it, he was gone.
BERMAN: You guys are vaccinated now, Evan. What was the message ultimately that your father wanted to spread about vaccines?
EVAN LANE: He wasn't anti-vaccine. He was just hesitant and now that, you know, Pfizer has been FDA approved, I don't think he would have anything wrong with telling people to get that vaccine.
KATIE LANE: His final words to my stepmom on a Facetime call was that he wishes, he wished that he was vaccinated.
BERMAN: Those were his final words?
KATIE LANE: To my stepmom, the last call that she had with him, he said that he wished that he was vaccinated.
BERMAN: And Katie, you said from one media source, in particular, he was getting misinformation -- he was getting information that led him to be hesitant on vaccines. Who? Who was he listening to?
KATIE LANE: He watched some Tucker Carlson videos on YouTube, and some of those videos involved some misinformation about vaccines, and I believe that that played a role.
BERMAN: Evan, what do you want people to remember about your dad? How are you going to remember him?
EVAN LANE: I'm always going to remember him as just the fun dad in any school gathering, or just the person who always tries to bring everyone's mood up, if they're feeling down.
BERMAN: Katie, I'm looking at pictures right now on the screen. I don't know if you can see them but his smile just bursts right through the screen right there. He just looks like there was so much joy.
KATIE LANE: Yeah.
EVAN LANE: A joy, and a lot of life that's he never going to live.
BERMAN: Katie and Evan Lane, listen, we're thinking about you. Thank you for being with us right now, and you know, you're his legacy and I'm sure he'd be so proud of you in everything you're doing now and will do going forward.