CNN rolls the tape on Fox News hosts' anti-vaccine rhetoric 07:00
Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @DeanObeidallah. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.
(CNN)"Do you think we could've eradicated polio or defeated the measles if you had Fox News night after night warning people about these vaccine issues that are just bunk?" CNN's Jim Acosta asked Saturday of Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser.
Dean Obeidallah
Fauci response's was jaw-dropping: "If we had had the pushback for vaccines the way we're seeing on certain media I don't think it would have been possible at all to not only eradicate smallpox, we probably would still have smallpox and we probably would still have polio in this country." The nation's premier infectious disease specialist added, "If we had the kind of false information that's being spread now, if we had that back decades ago, I would be certain that we'd still have polio in this country."