The View got rather intense on Tuesday when co-host Sunny Hostin accused former colleague Jedediah Bila of peddling vaccine “misinformation” on their show after the former Fox News star explained why she has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Several years after departing The View as its resident conservative panelist, Bila returned to the show on Tuesday to ostensibly promote her new book. But the conversation quickly turned to the fact that she was taping her interview remotely rather than from the live studio.
“Okay, Jed. Let’s address the elephant in the room because you were supposed to join us in the studio weeks ago,” co-host Joy Behar said. “But you couldn’t because ABC has a very strict policy. You can’t get into this building unless you’re fully vaccinated.”
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Behar explained that Bila has “made a conscious decision not to get the vaccine” before pointing out that the CDC said unvaccinated individuals are 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those with the shot.
Asked why she didn’t get the vaccine, Bila asserted that her “story is a little bit unique,” claiming she has a “medical exemption” approved by her specialist. Additionally, the ex-Fox & Friends host asserted that she has “sky-high, multi-tier, multi-faceted natural immunity” and that the “vaccine poses a greater risk than benefit” to her.
“I’m also not a risk to any of you,” she declared, adding, “My point about all of this is I am not anti-vax. What I really want is for people to make these decisions for themselves.”
Saying she was opposed to vaccine mandates, Bila went on to claim the vaccines were just created to prevent the severity of illness and do not prevent recipients from getting COVID-19 or transmitting the virus, prompting Behar to interject.
“Oh my goodness. That’s not so. You have been at Fox TV too long,” Behar exclaimed, referencing the relentless anti-vaccine rhetoric permeating right-wing media.
Bila, however, noted that the CDC director and other experts have acknowledged that vaccinated people can transmit the disease. “That is why masks were reinstated for people that are vaccinated,” she added. “They said transmission is going to be a thing for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.”
After Bila once again insisted she was “not opposed to the vaccine,” Hostin finally jumped in to confront the ex-View host over her decision to not get the jab.
“You know what, Jed, 762,000 people have died from COVID, including [my] in-laws,” Hostin proclaimed, referencing her husband’s parents. “We have been friends a long time… but I don't understand why you would prioritize your personal freedom over the health and safety of others.”
As the audience applauded and Bila attempted to defend her position, Hostin added, “I don't think we should allow this kind of misinformation on our website.”
Invoking the U.S. Surgeon General, she also claimed he’s “debunked” everything that Bila said about the vaccines and natural immunity. While the ex-Fox host tried to respond, Hostin once again said she didn’t think “we should allow this kind of misinformation on our air.”
Eventually, Bila insisted that she was “prioritizing” her own personal health, only for Hostin to fire back it was “over the health and safety of other people.” The two then began to talk over one another before moderator Whoopi Goldberg broke it up to end the segment and toss it to commercial break.
The heated back-and-forth over vaccines and mandates comes just a couple of months after The View was thrown into chaos after Hostin and co-host Ana Navarro were abruptly pulled off-air before an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris after supposedly testing positive for COVID-19. The embarrassing on-air meltdown, and the fact that the tests ended up being false positives, resulted in the show’s in-house nurse taking the fall.
