Unclear If Tucker Carlson Has Been Vaccinated

Carlson is not required to reveal his vaccination status due to federal HIPAA laws. He has gone so far as to claim that the COVID-19 vaccines are killing people and he has a history of spreading misinformation that has even prompted lawsuits. In fact, one famous instance resulted in the U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Viskocil agreeing with Fox News lawyers about the believability of Carlson. Court documents argued that Carlson cannot be “reasonably believed” to be stating facts and is instead using hyperbole. Or, as Judge Viskocil stated it, Carlson is “engaging in ‘exaggeration’ and ‘non-literal commentary.’”

Nonetheless, Carlson continues to impress upon his audience the need to be hesitant about the vaccine and to not receive it. Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch admitted to getting the vaccine and several other Fox News personalities openly report they also received the vaccine. Carlson will not respond to queries, however, and is reported to not even acknowledge remarks made by guests about their own status. 

In the United States the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known simply as HIPAA, protects the privacy of individuals' health information. Except in very few and certain circumstances information such as vaccination records is not publicly available. Carlson will neither confirm nor deny his vaccination status, which is curious but not indicative of anything. If Carlson were to be revealed as having the vaccine he would definitely be faced with outrage by his audience while disclosing that he has not had the vaccine would have few consequences other than being a believable story.

While we cannot continue to assume the motivations for Carlson’s silence on the subject we can remember that Carlson is claimed as being little more than a speculative opinion by his own network, and not a provider of true or factual information.