Late night hosts cheer Mexican news anchor's anti-vaxxer rant, decode the CDC's COVID messaging fails

"From the beginning of this pandemic, the CDC has tried to give clear, simple guidelines to the public — and from the beginning, they have mostly failed," Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show. "Look, I'm not saying that telling 300 million people how to behave during a global pandemic is easy, but it also doesn't seem like the CDC is getting any better at it." He offered many examples.
"The director of the CDC just said that she's aiming to improve the agency's COVID messaging — then in her next interview, she said the CDC is not aiming to improve their messaging," Jimmy Fallon joked at The Tonight Show. "The CDC wants to communicate more clearly, so going forward their press releases will no longer be in the Wingdings font."
Fallon showed a clip of "a news anchor in Mexico who finally hit his breaking point with people who won't get vaccinated," then laughed. "You know that's how Dr. Fauci feels on the inside."
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"We've seen a lot of people making a case for vaccination, from Dr. Fauci to Olivia Rodrigo to Arnold Schwarzenegger," but "no living person has made a more compelling argument to get the shot than this news commentator from Mexico," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. "Well done, Leonardo Schwebel. I may make that my ringtone."
The Late Show imagined a not-so-safe space for the proudly unvaccinated to congregate: "Covid Garden."
"Hey anti-vaxxers complaining about the CDC's 'communist' policies, why don't you try protesting at the Beijing Olive Garden — let me know how that goes," Stephen Colbert said on The Late Show. "I'm not the only one fed up with these mask-holes," he added, playing Schwebel's rant on Telediario Guadalajara. "I hope all the anti-vaxxers in Mexico saw that, especially the ones who say they heard the vaccine gives their cousin's friend los huevos gigantes."
Senate Democrats are following through on a "doomed" attempt to bypass the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, "because they say they need to who's for and who's against voting rights on the record," Colbert said "That's right, because once you know which politicians are keeping you from being able to vote, you can vote them out — and I see the problem." He thanked Stevie Wonder for slamming the 'bull-tish" filibuster excuse and for "swearing in a way I can air on my CBS television show."
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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