Meghan McCain is drawing ire for her latest comments on The View. The controversy began while McCain, 36, and the other co-hosts were discussing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout on Monday's episode.
When it was her time to speak, McCain showed a clip of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, saying that he wasn't prepared to issue a recommendation on whether or not it's OK for vaccinated people to forego COVID-19 precautions just yet.
McCain criticized Fauci's "terribly inconsistent messaging," stating that she's been "responsible" since the start of the pandemic and wanted to know when she could return to normal life. She additionally questioned why other countries like Israel are encouraging a return to normalcy after their citizens are vaccinated, while the U.S. has yet to do so.
"The idea that I can get vaccinated and I won't be able to see friends, and nothing in life changes, and that we're going to have to wear masks forever, I don't understand the downplaying of getting the vaccine because right now we should be wanting as many Americans as possible to get a vaccine," she began, before making the statement that really set critics abuzz.
"The fact that I, Meghan McCain, co-host of The View, don't know when or how I will be able to get a vaccine because the rollout for my age range and my health is so nebulous," she said. "I have no idea when and how I can get it. I want to get it. If you call me at three o'clock in the morning, I will go any place at any time to get it."
McCain said that, while she wants "to be responsible and obviously wait my turn," the vaccine rollout has been "a disaster."
"I understand, obviously, President [Donald] Trump can take much of the blame, but now we're in the Biden administration. I, for one, would like something to look forward to and to hope for," she said. "Because if getting the vaccine just means that nothing changes and we have to wait another few years until everyone gets it... I'm over Dr. Fauci."
In fact, McCain said that she thinks Biden should "remove" Fauci and install someone in his position who "maybe does understand science or can talk to other countries about how we can be more like these places that are doing this successfully."
Whoopi Goldberg responded to McCain's statements, saying that Israel has been able to roll out the vaccine successfully because it's a smaller country made up of people who've worn masks as recommended, unlike the U.S.
"You probably could get your shot, but you're going to go outside and be surrounded by people who have not gotten their shot," Goldberg said. "They don't know yet how protected you're going to be. This is all stuff that we'll know when the science makes sense. Or we could have him just say, 'Yeah!' and then we'll get him on the other side when he's wrong."
"I understand what you're saying. I know what I'm saying is controversial, I really do," McCain chimed in, as both Goldberg and Joy Behar were trying to speak. "But I'm not a phony. I'm not going to come on-air and say something different than what I'm saying in private."
McCain tweeted a similar sentiment after the segment aired.
Out of McCain's statements, Twitter users mostly took issue with her stating, "The fact that I, Meghan McCain, co-host of The View, don't know when or how I will be able to get a vaccine." One person wrote that "more vulnerable people SHOULD get priority," while another told her to "sit this one out."
McCain retweeted messages from people who agreed with her point, one of whom asked how the co-host "is the only one questioning this," while another stated that Fauci is trying to "prolong his 'fifteen minutes of world fame.'"
Watch the video below for more on McCain.
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