Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp. chairman and executive chairman of News Corp, received the COVID-19 vaccination in the U.K. on Friday.
“I would like to thank the keyworkers and the NHS staff who have worked so hard throughout the pandemic, and the amazing scientists who have made this vaccine possible. I strongly encourage people around the world to get the vaccine as it becomes available,” he said in a statement from a News Corp representative.
At 89 years old, the media mogul qualified for the first round of vaccinations. According to the statement, he received the shot at his local general practitioner’s office “after he received a call saying he was eligible.” He’d been isolating with his wife Jerry Hall Murdoch in the U.K. since the summer.
According to The Guardian, who first reported the news, Murdoch arrived to the doctor’s office via a convoy of Range Rovers, and the vaccination center’s hours were reportedly extended at the last minute. The Guardian reports an email saying “Just a reminder — we have been advised ‘no media coverage’ due to security issues. Please note that photography and video are strictly forbidden” was sent to staff.
In a contrast to Murdoch’s statement, Tucker Carlson, one of the most vocal and controversial talk show hosts of Fox Corp.’s Fox News, told viewers to be skeptical of the vaccine on Thursday night, even though he admitted vaccines have saved millions of lives. He said the push to get people vaccinated “feels false, because it is.”
“So how are the rest of us supposed to respond to a marketing campaign like this? Well, nervously. Even if you’re strongly supportive of vaccines, and we are even if you recognize how many millions of lives have been saved over the past 50 years by vaccines, and we do, it all seems a bit much, it feels false, because it is. It’s too slick,” he said.
Other U.K. public figures, like “Lord of the Rings” actor Ian McKellen and “Great British Bake Off” judge Prue Leith, received the vaccine earlier this week.
