The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper chases down the 'wellness' anti-vaxxers of blue Southern California
"The discussion around vaccines and mandates tends to pit red state versus blue, but I had heard there was vaccine hesitancy and misinformation in the elitist of the elite blue corners of the U.S.," Jordan Klepper narrated on Wednesday's Daily Show. "So I headed to a protest in sunny Southern California."
In Venice Beach and Santa Monica, the people resisting vaccines were not the MAGA folks and Q-Anon conspiracists Klepper normally interviews. They get their vaccine misinformation in yoga studios and "wellness" forums, Klepper said. And it "turns out ignoring the advice of the medical experts and sacrificing the health of the community at large can actually be quite profitable for the wellness business."
Instead of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, these blue-state anti-vaxxers — many of whom insist they are not anti-vaxxers — are putting their faith in anti-COVID meditations and breathing techniques. "Okay, maybe on the coffee enema, definite hard no on the COVID vaccine?" he clarified with one bearded man in a captain's hat. He did find one openly vaccinated local, but he was from New York.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In September, Klepper released a more traditional dispatch from Johnson County, North Carolina, where he marched "with anti-mask protesters to what has become America's new Thunderdome: school board meetings."
And he traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, in October for his "first Trump rally since Jan. 6, 2021, a day no one will ever forget — unless you're a Republican member of Congress." In the belly of the MAGA beast, nobody was wearing a mask, and nobody thought Donald Trump lost.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of Christmas
Cartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Inside the house of Assad
The Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
By The Week UK Published
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talks
Speed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tour
Speed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamation
Speed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box office
Speed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appeal
Speed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91
Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76
Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproar
Speed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published