'I'm not a doctor, but...'

Newsmax host suggests vaccines are 'against nature' because some diseases are 'supposed to wipe out' people

As officials look for ways to boost the United States' COVID-19 vaccination pace, one Newsmax host suggested to viewers that vaccines are "against nature" because they help fight diseases that are "supposed to" wipe people out. 

Host Rob Schmitt during a segment on the conservative channel suggested, after acknowledging he's "not a doctor," that vaccination "in a weird way is just generally kind of going against nature," as reported by Media Matters for America. 

"If there is some disease out there, maybe there's just an ebb and flow to life where something's supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people, and that's just kind of the way evolution goes," Schmitt said. "Vaccines kind of stand in the way of that." 

The comments came moments after Schmitt insisted he's "not an anti-vaxxer," and he went on to proclaim he "can't comprehend" why people at low risk for COVID-19 would get vaccinated, even though health officials have stressed this as necessary to reach herd immunity and prevent the virus from spreading. 

Numerous right-wing commentators have also recently been pushing talking points against vaccination. And at the Conservative Political Action Conference, attendees recently cheered on the idea of Americans not getting vaccinated, something Dr. Anthony Fauci called "horrifying" and "frightening."