Legendary radio host Howard Stern has drawn both applause and condemnation for a fiery rant he delivered on his Wednesday about anti-vaxxers.
Asked by a caller how he feels the U.S. should deal with unvaccinated people's outsized impacts on the way the pandemic is playing out in the U.S., Stern did not mince words in his characteristically blunt style.
He told the caller that unvaccinated people should be denied hospital care and be told they will have to "go home and die."
‘Go Home and Die!’ Howard Stern Says Hospitals Should Refuse to Treat Unvaccinated People
Hear Stern's comments below.
The caller's question is one that many people frustrated have asked: Given unvaccinated people's exponentially outsized impact on both the duration of the pandemic and the nearly untenable pressure they put on hospital capacity, should we allow "the pandemic [to] run wild and move through the unvaccinated."
While many find that idea dangerous and even inhumane—including many healthcare workers who feel it is a violation of the oath they take to "do no harm"—Stern is not among them.
He responded plainly:
“If it was up to me, anyone unvaccinated would not be admitted to a hospital. Send them home with a bottle of Robitussin.”
Stern then attempted to reason with any anti-vaxxers listening to him who may have fallen for the myriad bizarre conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccines, despite the mountain of scientific evidence that they are safe and effective.
“No one’s sitting there conspiring against you. Americans don’t want to create a vaccine that’s going to turn you into a robot, or magnetize you."
"There’s enough Americans now have taken it. Look at us as a sampling where nothing has happened to us. It’s time for you to get it.”
Stern went on to call the act of getting vaccinated a "civic duty" the shirking of which should come with dire consequences.
"Now if you don’t get it, in my America, all hospitals would be closed to you. You’re going to go home and die.”
On Twitter, response to Stern's comments was all over the map.
Many applauded his bluntness, especially given the stakes.
But many others thought Stern's approach was wrong and inhumane.
Stern has been a vocal critic of anti-vaxxers during the pandemic, railing against famous anti-vaxxers like Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie Irving, and Joe Rogan, and infamously saying last year "fu*k their freedom, I want my freedom to live."
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