CNN host John King revealed he is immunocompromised in a segment pushing back against right-wing misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines.
“I’m going to share a secret I’ve never shared before: I’m immunocompromised,” King said on CNN Tuesday. “I have multiple sclerosis. So I’m grateful you’re all vaccinated.”
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system. It was King’s first time publicly addressing his diagnosis.
King brought up his diagnosis during a segment calling out Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who used the recent death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell to spread vaccine misinformation. In a Monday night segment, Carlson said Powell died from COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated, but did not mention to his audience that Powell had multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that greatly reduces the body’s ability to fight infection. At the end of his show, Carlson said the 84-year-old Powell “was suffering from a number of different health problems.”
Fox News has been on the forefront of spreading coronavirus vaccine misinformation and goading its supporters into objecting to work vaccine mandates despite most of the company’s employees being vaccinated.
King said he’s glad he and his colleagues are all vaccinated.
“I’m grateful my employer says, ‘All these amazing people on the floor who have been here the last 18 months while we’ve been doing this, are vaccinated now that we have vaccines,’” he said.
“I worry about bringing it home to my 10-year-old son who can’t get a vaccine,” King added.
Clarification: This story has been amended to more accurately describe multiple sclerosis.
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