Kyle Sandilands has claimed he was misled by the government into promoting the Covid vaccine, despite previously encouraging Australians to get the jab in a viral music video.
On his new show, Sandilands said he and other prominent media figures had been ‘fooled’ into pushing the government’s vaccination message during the pandemic.
‘I admit I was wrong. I was fooled into promoting the Covid vaccine.
‘I was involved, and a lot of people, a lot of broadcasters, TV presenters were. We were all fooled at one stage by the government. Remember, I did that dumb song, “Get Vax, Baby.” Oh, I thought I was doing the right thing,’ Sandilands said.
Sandilands also insisted he was not paid to promote the vaccine.
‘A lot of people thought I got paid. But I was trying to, I was, I was trying like everyone else to get the message out that we were told was imperative,’ he said.
‘What about when they knew the government knew that even if we got the vaccine, we could still get COVID and we could still pass it on? But they never told us that,’ he said.
In 2021, Sandilands released ‘Get Vax Baby’, a Covid vaccination rap set to the tune of Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby’, encouraging Australians to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated.
Kyle Sandilands has claimed he was misled by the government into promoting the Covid vaccine, despite previously encouraging Australians to get the jab in a viral music video
Sandilands also insisted he was not paid to promote the vaccine, despite speculation at the time
Show producer and vaccine critic Pedro also weighed in on the discussion, making claims about how Covid deaths were recorded during the pandemic.
‘F*** the vaccine, I’m the winner – I didn’t get vaccinated,’ Pedro said.
‘They used to do the Covid death count, and they used to include like if you died in a car accident, like you had Covid – you would be put down as a Covid death.’
However, the show’s newsreader Brooklyn Ross pushed back, and said he was no longer concerned about the controversy surrounding Covid vaccinations.
‘Who gives a f*** about all this vaccine stuff, I just don’t care it was five years ago.
‘The rest of us took it and moved on with it and just moved on with our lives.’
But Sandilands quickly hit back, and said the issue was important to those who suffered side effects after being vaccinated.
‘You know who cares, the people who suffered for getting the vaccine,’ he said.
In 2021, Stefanovic fronted Channel Nine’s ‘This is Our Shot’ Covid vaccination television campaign – which he now regrets
Despite Sandilands’s claims about the vaccine, University of Sydney infectious diseases epidemiologist and vaccinologist Meru Sheel said Covid is estimated to cause 2,000–5,000 deaths and more than 100,000 hospitalisations in Australia each year.
‘Vaccination continues to be one of the most effective ways to prevent deaths and serious complications from Covid.’
Broadcaster Karl Stefanovic has also revealed that he now regrets urging Aussies to get the Covid jab during the pandemic.
At the height of the pandemic in 2021, Stefanovic fronted Channel Nine’s ‘This is Our Shot’ Covid vaccination television campaign alongside a host of network celebrities such as Scott Cam, Hamish Blake, Shaynna Blaze, Eddie McGuire, Liz Hayes and Richard Wilkins.
Many workers also lost their jobs over their decision not to roll up their sleeves.
‘I am definitely sorry for the role I played in not questioning the science, in not questioning more the government mandates, and I feel like I isolated people because of that, and I don’t think the media should be involved in that kind of messaging,’ Stefanovic said.
‘What I do believe is that we should have been there to offer some sort of education, but we shouldn’t have taken that step further and been part of a campaign.
‘And I’m legitimately sorry for that, because I don’t know how that would have felt for people out there.’
