Jimmy Fallon mocks CDC over booster recommendations in late night monologue
The late night TV host poked fun at the agency after it recommended another booster shot.
Late night TV host Jimmy Fallon took a swipe at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Monday night following the agency's questionable guidelines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fallon teed up his joke by referencing the story of a man in Germany who got 90 COVID-19 vaccine shots in order to sell forged vaccine cards.
"Ninety doses!" Fallon said. "That guy could eat fried bat for dinner and be fine."
"And this is annoying," he continued. "Even after 90 doses, the CDC says he'll probably need another booster in about four months."
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON -- Episode 1429 -- Pictured: Host Jimmy Fallon arrives at his desk on March 22, 2021 -- (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC)
Fallon previously told a joke at the CDC's expense in January. Poking fun at an NBC News headline that "wasn't super helpful" that told New Yorkers they could see "between 2 inches to 20 inches of snow" over the weekend, the late-night host quipped, "Who's making these predictions? The CDC?"
The CDC has been ripped by largely conservative critics for the past several months for its fluctuating and often confusing guidance in response to COVID-19. Most recently, the agency announced that it would be recommending Americans get another booster shot.
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The CDC issued a few head-scratching guidelines in December, including the decision to cut the length of its recommended quarantine time for COVID patients from 10 days to five. The amendment came less than a week after the public health agency relaxed guidance for health care workers who test positive, cutting the isolation period from 10 days to as short as five days if there were staffing shortages.
The CDC was previously hit for confusing updated guidance on masks. Despite earlier guidance that only unvaccinated individuals should wear face coverings, in July the CDC changed course to say vaccinated individuals should resume wearing masks in certain situations.
Atlanta, Georgia, USA - August 28, 2011: Close up of entrance sign for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sign located near the 1700 block of Clifton Road in Atlanta, Georgia, on the Emory University campus. Vertical composition. (iStock) (iStock)
Following months of apparent contradictory guidance, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky was placed in the hot seat by mainstream news outlets.
"Why should Americans trust the CDC?" NBC's Peter Alexander asked Walensky in December, noting the many mixed messages the CDC had been sending on masks, booster shots, quarantine intervals, and more. Walensky responded by saying the agency is just reacting to the latest data on the virus.
"My job right now is to take all the science and the information that we have and to deliver guidance and recommendations to the American people that is adapted to the science at hand," she said. "This pandemic has given us a lot of new and updated science over the last two years, and it is my job to convey that science through those recommendations and that is exactly what we're doing."
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, now director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), removes her mask to speak as Joe Biden announces nominees and appointees to serve on his health and coronavirus response teams during a news conference at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., December 8, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
Critics are accusing late night hosts like Fallon and the media at large of only now hitting the CDC after it has appeared to lose some popularity among the American people.