Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, made a name for himself at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic by denying its severity and parroting the right-wing talking point that it was no more serious than the flu.
He was and is still anti-lockdown and anti-mask, and his analysis has been proven horribly wrong. But that hasn’t stopped him from being a welcome pundit on the right. And last night he went on Tucker Carlsons’ show to let viewers know they should be concerned about the efficacy of COVID vaccines, saying they didn’t prevent death from coronavirus as well as scientists claimed.
How, you might ask, if someone doesn’t believe coronavirus to be deadly, can they also be concerned that vaccinated people are dying? Great question, the answer to which appears to be that shameless hucksters can say whatever they want.
Berenson says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance on people who have been vaccinated— noting they should still wear masks in public and socially distance—shows they don’t actually believe the vaccine is effective and that the CDC is very afraid it might turn out to not work.
But if you don’t believe the measures the CDC has in place are effective to begin with, but also don’t think the vaccine is effective, and still don’t believe the pandemic to be deadly, yet you are now concerned people may die…
It is hard to wrap your head around those contradictory positions.
To make it easier, some enterprising Twitter users found a tweet that lays down how wrong Berenson is about the pandemic. In October, he tweeted his Fox News appearance to say that President Joe Biden’s concerns over a deadly winter were unfounded and that America would not reach 500,000 coronavirus deaths by spring like experts were claiming.
The U.S. hit 500,000 deaths this winter, a fact people were quick to point out to the COVID denier, highlighting just how wrong he was.
So definitely don’t take his advice on vaccines.