John Oliver found a surprising source defending the importance of vaccinations for kindergartners everywhere.
Oliver’s Last Week Tonight monologue on Sunday followed last week’s announcement by Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to repeal every state law requiring children to receive mandatory vaccinations.
The Emmy-nominated late-night host played a clip of Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, explaining on Fox Business how he would recommend vaccinations to parents for young students about to enter the public school system.
“Why do we want you to have it?” Siegel asked. “Because of something called herd immunity. Because, measles, if you go into a room where measles was and you’re not vaccinated within two hours there’s a 90 percent chance you’re gonna get it. And so for immunocompromised kids, the only way to protect them is to have 95 percent of the population vaccinated. When you’re joining a community when you go to kindergarten, you’re not only thinking about yourself, you’re thinking about others.”
Siegel followed up with an op-ed Sunday on Fox News to further make his points.
“Exactly!” Oliver agreed heartily. “And it is kind of shocking to hear such good health information on Fox Business. In the same way that it’d be weird if Dr. Fauci chose to make an appearance on Scheana Shay’s Shenanigans podcast. It’s just not where I’d expect to hear a passionate defense of public health. I’m glad I’m getting it. I’m just a little surprised at the source.”
For his part, Oliver also took aim at Dr. Ladapo for having “a ton of questionable views.” Among those, Oliver reported that Ladapo had recommended hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, had wanted to halt fluoride use in the public water supply, and as recently as last month, wrote on X that “I support the decision to consume raw milk” despite it being linked to an e. coli outbreak in Florida.
In his address on Wednesday, Ladapo compared vaccine mandates to slavery, but Oliver really took issue when Ladapo questioned his own legitimacy by asking: “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in your body? I don’t have that right!”
“Much like a Florida textbook, I’m going to skip right past the slavery part, and point out—you are the surgeon general. It is actually your obligation to advise people on what vaccines should be in their children’s bodies,” Oliver countered. “Even I know there are certain things you’re allowed to tell people to put in their kid’s body: Water, nutrients, one piece of dog food just to end the discussion, And also, life-saving vaccines.”
Oliver added: “But it’s also wild to hear that whole parents you-do-you stance from a man who has sought to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors regardless of parental consent.”
He did find some solace in Democratic governors taking charge in their own way to protect public health, such as California, Washington and Oregon forming the West Coast Health Alliance.
“But unfortunately, Florida probably won’t be the last state to take this step which will inevitably result in more kids and others getting sick and dying,” he said. “And while it is not great that certain leaders seem to be getting obsessed with achieving immortality through science, I’d argue it is frankly humiliating that ours currently seem intent in doing the exact f—-ing opposite.”
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