Fox New viewers are getting less skeptical of the vaccine after network’s round of PSAs, poll finds

People who got their news from social media were even less likely to want the jab

More Fox News viewers than ever are willing to receive the Covid vaccine, following a concerted push from the network to encourage its conservative, often vaccine-sceptical audience to get the jab, according to a new poll.

Among the millions who watch the network each day, 27 per cent told pollsters from Morning Consult they “probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated,” down from a high of 37 per cent in Match.

Though many of its most high-profile hosts like Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro continue to promote scepticism or outright lies about the vaccine, the network has tried to convince people to get vaccinated, a difficult task when the pandemic has been politicised and many right-wing leaders have railed against life-saving public health measures as violations of freedom.

The network rolled out a pro-vaccine PSA in February urging viewers to “keep up the fight” against the virus, and another in July, and some of its top personalities have thrown their weight behind the treatment publicly.

"If you have the chance, get the shot, it will save your life," Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy said during one segment, where he sought to debunk misinformation about the vaccine. “The disinformation is online: the vaccine is killing lots and lots of people or it changes your DNA or there are little microchips. None of that is true,” he added.

(He’s right: the Morning Consult poll that people who got their information via social media had even higher hesitancy, particularly on Snapchat, where more than a third said they wouldn’t get the vaccine.)

Bret Baier, the chief political anchor of Fox News, has posted about how he was “grateful” for the vaccine on social media, while the network even hosted a special primetime event aimed at debunking conspiracies about the jab.

Still, some of the network’s most popular hosts have worked in the opposite direction, telling Fox News’ audience of vulnerable senior citizens to doubt the vaccine.

Tucker Carlson, the highest rated Fox News host, who has not publicly disclosed whether he has been vaccinated, said the Biden administration wants to "force people to take medicine they don’t want or need,” and called a door-to-door vaccination drive “the greatest scandal in my lifetime, by far.” Jeanine Pirro, meanwhile, said the effort was secretly “about confiscating your gun.”

A Media Matters analysis of the network’s coverage regarding the vaccine found that between 28 June and 11 July, the network aired 129 segments about the shot. Of those segments, 57 per cent included claims that either "undermined or downplayed immunisation efforts.”