Fox & Friends falsely claims “the vaccines aren’t working,” lies about Biden administration’s orders of Pfizer antiviral drugs

Written by Eric Kleefeld

Published

Wednesday’s edition of Fox & Friends was another example of the network pushing false talking points against the COVID-19 vaccines and lying about the Biden administration’s efforts to distribute the new antiviral medications.

During the first hour of the program, co-host Ainsley Earhardt attacked President Joe Biden, claiming, “He didn't shut down the virus, and now we’re learning the vaccines aren't working for this latest variant.” In fact, data shows the vaccines are still effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths for breakthrough infections from the omicron variant.

In the next hour, co-host Brian Kilmeade ridiculed Biden for saying “the same thing for a year — get vaccinated, get vaccinated, come on, get vaccinated.” He also claimed that the country needs “a new plan” of living with the virus — as if such a “plan” would not require everyone to be vaccinated and to take certain other precautions to be remotely workable (as, for example, Fox News does in its own corporate offices).

Kilmeade and co-host Steve Doocy also falsely suggested that the Biden administration had done nothing to provide the public with Paxlovid, an antiviral regimen from Pfizer that received emergency use authorization a month ago. In fact, the federal government already began releasing supplies of the drug to state governments the very next day and Biden offered to use the Defense Production Act to assist in the complex processes of making the drug. In early January, the administration doubled its order to a total of 20 million courses of treatment. (One difficulty, however, is that the drug itself currently takes nine months to manufacture, which the company is working to cut in half.)

From the January 19, 2022, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): He says the same thing for a year — get vaccinated, get vaccinated, come on, get vaccinated, it's the patriotic thing to do. We need a new plan. Almost every doctor is saying you’ve got to get a new plan. It’s got to be living with it, it’s got to help the economy, going to help the country, we can't do this for another year. How to anticipate the next variant, and how to deal with it from here on in. Also, obviously, he didn't order any tests. He did not get ahead of that.

He did not order the therapeutics, he did not get ahead of that. Can you imagine how great it would be knowing, vaccinated or not, if you got the virus … you’re going to beat it, you’re going to survive. He actually created them, he didn't order them, that's a problem. The other thing is, inflation at a 40-year high. Steve, this is going to be a strategic thing. Do you just focus on things that you did good, and hope people write that, or do you focus on the reality of the supply chain and inflation that affects everyday people, and say I could do better? Do you mix them both, do you go in all in on one, or all in on let’s turn the page and pretend last year didn't happen?

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Well, you know he’s going to say, whatever topic comes up that is uncomfortable and he’s got a bad — you know, it hasn't worked out for him — he’s going to say, look, I’m only one year in. I was elected to four years. I’ve got plenty of time to do that. But, you know, whether — for the most part, the No. 1 thing he has done well on, is to your point, Brian, COVID. And now they’re sending out all of these tests, apparently too late for the omicron for the most part. But they’ve got these antiviral pills, the Pfizer pill. And because it's a virus, that's what you want, you want those. You want them to use the — you want the president to announce, we're rolling out the Defense Production Act so that we can get all those pills to all those people, because omicron only reacts to that pill. So, that's really how we turn the corner on it.