It’s no secret that the four main co-hosts of The View are strongly in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine, but hosts Joy Behar, 79, and Sunny Hostin, 53, got into with former co-host Jedediah Bila, 42, explained her reasoning for not getting vaccinated during an appearance on Tuesday November 16. Jedediah had joined the ladies via video call to discuss her new book Dear Hartley: Thoughts On Character, Kindness, And Building A Brighter World, when Joy mentioned the elephant in the room.
Joy mentioned that the former co-host wasn’t able to sit at the table with them, because she’s not vaccinated and ABC has a policy, which requires guests to be vaccinated to join the show. Jedediah, who had COVID in April 2020, claimed that the vaccine “poses a greater risk than a benefit,” according to her doctor. “I have a medical exemption to the vaccine that’s been written by my infectious disease, vaccinated specialist in New York City that’s been co-signed by three other doctors. I’m not a candidate for this vaccine,” she said. “I also have sky-high, multi-tiered, multi-faceted natural immunity.”
After claiming that doctors have signed off on her natural immunity, the former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host mentioned that she’s not an anti-vaxxer, but encouraged people to make decisions on their own. “My point about all of this is I am not anti-vax,” she said. “I want every one of you to sit with your family members to sit with your trusted doctors and say, ‘What is the best decision for me?’”
While she said that she’s not an anti-vaxxer, Jedediah did speak out against vaccine mandates. “This is a vaccine that was created to prevent severity of disease and to prevent hospitalizations,” she said. “The vaccine does not prevent you from getting COVID and does not prevent you from transmitting COVID.” After she said that, Joy seemed completely shocked and quipped about her longtime job, where she was a contribute of Fox News from 2013 to 2016, and then again from 2018 to May 2021, when she left the outlet. “Oh my goodness. No, that’s not so. You’ve been at Fox TV too long,” Joy responded.
Sunny to Jedediah Bila: 'Your views on the COVID vaccines are too dangerous to be on the air.' 👀#TheView pic.twitter.com/IAjQYcTUCt
— The Chat (@LiveOnTheChat) November 16, 2021
Sunny Hostin jumped in to call out Jedediah for her stance, as the two talked over each other. Jedediah claimed to oppose mandates “on the grounds of science,” and Sunny fired back with statistics about how over 762,000 people had died of COVID, including her husband Emmanuel Hostin’s parents. “I just don’t understand why you would choose to prioritize your personal freedom over health and safety of others,” she said, noting that the two are longtime friends. “We’ve had the United States surgeon general debunk everything that you’ve just said, and I just don’t think we should allow this kind of misinformation on our air. I’m really sorry, my friend.”
Jedediah tried to respond over Sunny and mentioned that she was “prioritizing my health,” but it was difficult to hear. Whoopi Goldberg diffused the situation by mentioning a commercial was coming up. “This should sound very familiar to you. We got to go to break,” the comedian said. As Whoopi mentioned that members of the studio audience would get a copy of the former co-host’s book, Jedediah got one last mention in: “Follow the science, people.”