On Friday’s installment of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the Fox News commentator accused the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of suggesting that COVID-19 vaccinations should be distributed based on race rather than need. Carlson’s claims was a deliberate misrepresentation of a CDC presentation on the groups most needing vaccination.

In the presentation, the CDC said that healthcare personnel, adults ages 65 and older, people with high-risk medical conditions, and essential workers would be the first to receive vaccinations.

In explaining why these groups were chosen for vaccinations first, the CDC mentioned that essential workers tend to be poor people and people of color who can’t work from home. People of color also tend to be underrepresented among people ages 65 and older (ie. They don’t typically live as long). As such, inoculating essential workers who are largely poor and people of color will help reduce healthcare inequalities among these communities.

Mind you that this was a presentation about groups in Phase 1 of the vaccine distribution list. They’re all in that group, they’re all as close to the front of the line as can be. pic.twitter.com/475LdxSmQL

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 19, 2020

Always eager to whip up racial resentment and outrage, Carlson explained the presentation this way:

“It is true that more lives would be saved if the elderly receive priority access to the vaccine. But here’s the problem, quote, racial and ethnic minority groups are underrepresented among adults aged 65 and older. Therefore, the elderly should not be a top priority.”

He continued, “In other words, it’s entirely racial. They’re making the decision based on race. Kathleen Dooling’s presentation concluded that doling out life-saving medicine on the basis of skin color would quote mitigate health inequities. Of course, it would kill people, and she effectively concedes that. But the people who would kill come from a disfavored race, so it’s not a big deal. It’s been a very long time since anyone close to what we would consider the mainstream has endorsed eugenics that’s exactly what that is — it’s eugenics.”

Tucker Carlson is claiming that vaccine distribution is "eugenics" against white people pic.twitter.com/z7kEI34j56

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) December 19, 2020

Media Matters writer Parker Molloy pointed out that Carlson has effectively made Dooling a target for harassment and death threats following his misrepresentation.

Democratic California Representative Eric Swalwell commented on Carlson’s falsehoods by asking, “How many people did Tucker Carlson try and kill tonight?”

How many people did Tucker Carlson try and kill tonight?

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) December 19, 2020

Atlantic science writer Ed Yong pointed out that people of color younger than age 65 are disproportionately dying from COVID-19 at higher rates, which explains why the CDC would want to inoculate them.

This paper doesn't get enough attention. It shows Black/Latino/Indigenous folks aren't just dying from Covid at higher rates than whites but are also dying *younger*.

90% of white deaths in 65+
90% of Black deaths in 55+
89% of Indigenous deaths in 45+https://t.co/klmmxIPqik

— Ed Yong (@edyong209) December 18, 2020

MSNBC commentator Chris Hayes pointed out that Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch who himself received a COVID vaccine this week.

Yup:https://t.co/Ne9Fk2WWhb https://t.co/3BeBggTYOS

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 19, 2020

As Carlson peddles these dangerous distortions, anti-vaxxers are flooding Facebook and YouTube with videos training people how to refuse inoculations.

President-elect Joe Biden has said he won’t make vaccines mandatory nationwide, although employers and states may require people to get vaccinated before allowing them back into workplaces, schools and colleges, USA Today reports.

Outbreaks of COVID-19 amongst Trump’s inner circle has left nearly 350 people close to him either infected with coronavirus or actively quarantining.

That includes 40 people close to Trump, including his family, aides, and staff who attended White House events like the September 26 party celebrating Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and the Election Night party, both of which featured people not wearing masks or social distancing.

Amongst those infected were Trump’s racist policy advisor, Stephen Miller; his rabidly dishonest press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany; his birther conspiracist wife, Melania Trump; his dishonest political advisor, Kellyanne Conway; his transphobic Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson; the Republican National Committee chief of staff, Richard Walters; the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows; and Trump political director, Brian Jack, among others.

Additionally, 130 Secret Service officers who helped protect Trump during his largely maskless and thankfully ineffective campaign rallies have also either tested positive or are currently in quarantine after having close contact with infected co-workers, effectively sidelining “roughly 10 percent of the agency’s core security team,” according to The Washington Post.

“Trump went on a travel blitz in the final stretch of the campaign, making five campaign stops on each of the last two days,” the publication wrote. “On Nov. 2, Trump’s campaign schedule required five separate groups of Secret Service officers — each numbering 20 to several dozen.”

“Some Secret Service personnel have privately complained to colleagues that they were instructed by presidential detail agents and White House staff not to wear masks in his presence, according to two people who heard the complaints,” the Post continued.

“The number of officers who have been pulled off duty creates a major stress on an already overworked team and will force many officers to forgo days off and work longer hours to compensate for absent co-workers.”

The publication also stated that 300 Secret Service officers overall have had to quarantine or have been infected with COVID-19 since the start of March.

A new Stanford University study estimates that 18 of President Donald Trump’s recent rallies have led to 30,000 COVID cases and 700 deaths.

We should also mention that Friday marked the highest ever one day toll of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. with 98,583 new infections reported as well as 978 deaths.

The analysis looked at each county where Trump held rallies between June 20 and September 30 2020. Researchers compared “post-event outcomes and pre-event characteristics” of counties of similar size elsewhere in the country. They did this to determine the differences between COVID cases and deaths in counties where Trump held rallies and those in similarly sized counties where he didn’t.

“Our estimate of the average treatment effect across the eighteen events implies that they increased subsequent confirmed cases of COVID-19 by more than 250 per 100,000 residents,” the study states. “We conclude that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths (not necessarily among attendees).”

Three weeks before this study was released, Minnesota health officials announced that nine attendees of Trump’s September 18 rally in Bemidji had tested positive for COVID-19.  Trump regularly flouts municipal ordinances requiring masks and social distancing at his events by calling his rallies “peaceful protests.”

Trump downplayed the pandemic’s lethality in its early stages, has recently said that the U.S. is “rounding the corner” in the pandemic, and a Tuesday White House press release created his administration with “ending the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Trump says COVID-19 is less deadly than the flu, but statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that’s total bunk. In less than a year, COVID-19 has killed more people in America than the military conflicts in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and World War I combined. Flu killed 34,200 Americans in 2019. COVID-19 has killed over 230,000 Americans in less than a year.

Trump has also publicly advocated for herd immunity, an approach the World Health Organization has called “very dangerous.”