Lifestyle
MAGA Radio Host’s Cancer-Stricken Wife Can’t Get COVID Shot Because of ‘Kook’ RFK Jr.
An ultra-conservative radio host attacked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday, saying that his sick wife is unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccination because of the policies of the secretary of health and human services.
Erick Erickson, an influential conservative talk show host, re-posted a New York Times article about declining availability for the COVID vaccine at pharmacies, and said his wife is one of the people affected.
“My wife has Stage 4 lung cancer. She is one of the people the COVID vaccine actually helps,” he wrote. “Thanks to the current mess at HHS, CVS is unable to get her the vaccine.”
In response to comments criticizing his take, Erickson further explained his wife’s predicament and sharpened his criticism of Secretary Kennedy.
“Just for all the people chiming in ignorantly, the vaccine does not prevent COVID for my wife, but it greatly minimizes the impact of the virus,” he explained. “It’s the difference between symptoms amounting to a runny nose and being bedridden for a prolonged period of time.”
In a video posted on Friday, Erickson called Kennedy a “kook” and a “conspiracy theorist who is destroying our public health service in America.”
The blistering criticism comes amid chaos at the HHS, which has been inconsistent in its messaging on the COVID vaccine over the past few months, and is now dealing with top-level turnover at the CDC.
The FDA approved updated COVID vaccines for this fall season but limited who can receive the jabs.
Whereas past iterations of the shot were recommended widely to most adults and children, the agency only approved the shot for people aged 65 and older.
Erickson is a fervent Trump supporter but a staunch critic of the president’s MAHA champion. He said his wife was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and the COVID vaccine would help minimize the effect of the virus if she caught it. / William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty
Younger people are only eligible if they have at least one underlying condition, and those under 18 can receive the shot with the approval of a medical provider.
While Erickson’s wife would likely qualify as a person with an underlying condition, major pharmacies are restricting access to the vaccine due to the “current regulatory environment.”
The Times reported that CVS is now requiring patients to have a prescription for the vaccine in 13 states, including Erickson’s home state of Georgia, and that the shot is no longer available in Massachusetts, Nevada, and New Mexico.
Walgreens is implementing a similar policy, but in different states.
Adding to the pain, insurers will likely stop covering the vaccine for those who are not inside the eligible groups, spiking prices up to $225 per shot.
Retsef Levi, one of the vaccine skeptics that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed to the influential ACIP panel in June. Levi has said that it is “indisputable that mRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death.” / Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images
The confusion over vaccine eligibility and availability could worsen in September, when the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is set to review the safety of the COVID vaccine, along with several other common vaccines.
ACIP does not have final say on which vaccines are recommended by the CDC, but some states have laws that prohibit pharmacists from administering shots that are not recommended by the panel.
In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the panel and replaced them with a group that includes several vaccine skeptics.
One of the reported reasons that Dr. Susan Monarez was ousted as CDC Director this week is that she refused to agree to accept whatever recommendations the ACIP hands down at its Sept. 18 meeting.
The White House confirmed CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted from her job after just a few weeks. Her departure followed clashes with RFK Jr. and sparked the exit of other top CDC officials. / Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Her firing triggered the resignations of three senior officials, who excoriated Kennedy’s management of the agency on their way out.
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, one of those senior officials, said on CNN on Thursday that “no one from my center has ever briefed” Kennedy on measles or COVID, and that the HHS secretary is “getting information from somewhere, but that information is not coming from CDC experts.”
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Dr. Daskalakis predicted that the September ACIP meeting could ring in even more uncertainty around COVID vaccine access.
“What I worry about is that they’re going to use inaccurate data, or cite the absence of perfect data to actually constrain who can get the vaccine to a point that almost no one will qualify,” Daskalakis said.
“Even more concerning is that they could make a recommendation extremely complicated for no reason,” he added. “And that will confuse clinicians and make them hesitant to provide the vaccine to people who are requesting it because of concern about liability.”
The Daily Beast has contacted HHS and Erickson for comment.