Tucker Carlson, who has for months dodged questions on his COVID-19 vaccine status, told a church group he is not vaccinated

• Tucker Carlson told a San Diego church he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19. 
• He dismissed proponents of the vaccines as liars, despite proof of the shots’ effectiveness.
• Carlson has long stirred opposition to vaccines, putting him at odds with Fox’s own policies.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has long used his top-rated show to erode trust in COVID vaccines, told a church congregation in San Diego that he had not gotten the shot himself. 

The remarks follow long speculation about Carlson’s vaccination status, which until now he had refused to address directly.

When asked the question last year by New York Times reporter, he dismissed it as inappropriate, asking in return “when was the last time you had sex with your wife and in what position? We can trade intimate details.”

The admission of being unvaccinated was made at a gathering Awaken Church on April 2, where Carlson mocked the idea of getting a booster shot, and praised the church for defying COVID-19 restrictions. 

“I skipped the first three, I’m not getting that one either,” Carlson said, according to the Voice of San Diego, a nonprofit news outlet.

In recordings of his remarks at the event published by The Daily Beast, Carlson went on to say that he was not opposed to vaccines in general but did object to those against the coronavirus.

“I’ve had like a million of them,” he said, of vaccines.

But, speaking of the various medical and politics figures wo recommended the vaccines, he said: “I look at these people, like, this just does not make sense at all. And I have no idea what’s up here, but whatever you’re telling me it’s just not true.”

For months, Carlson has been among the most high-profile vaccine skeptics in the US, using his show to advance misleading and false claims about the safety and efficacy of the shots. The vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in multiple studies by public health authorities and research organisations globally. 

Fox News had previously not responded to requests from Insider to clarify Carlson’s vaccination status. 

Despite its biggest hosts attacking the vaccine and COVID restrictions, Fox Corporation, Fox News’ parent company, in a memo sent out by a senior executive last September said that 90% of employees were vaccinated.

It said that those who were not had to get daily tests.