The View took an unexpected turn from chat show to health check on Tuesday when Whoopi Goldberg put a very direct question to the studio audience.
The 69-year-old Ghost and Sister Act star had just come back from a commercial break when she raised a Hot Topics discussion about the rise in vaccine scepticism in the US. “This is so crazy, but as cold and flu season arrives, a new Washington Post poll found that one in six American parents are rejecting vaccine recommendations,” she told viewers.
“The majority of parents still support immunisations, but there’s been a declining trust in childhood vaccines since the pandemic. When did people stop trusting their paediatricians? That’s the person who has your baby!”
She then turned away from the panel and addressed the Manhattan audience directly. “Can I just ask one question? Everybody who’s been vaccinated in this audience, just put your hand up?” Cameras caught cohosts Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin raising their hands as the audience followed suit, though one woman was seen sitting with her arms folded.
“And you’re all still alive. Okay. I’m just checking,” Goldberg quipped, earning laughs before Joy Behar jumped in with, “If you’re not, don’t come back.”
The conversation then shifted to Hostin, who said she was alarmed by the trend. “I think it’s terrifying. There’s this notion out there that I don’t have to get vaccinated because everyone else is vaccinated, and there will be this herd immunity,” she explained, pointing out that 95 per cent of the population needs vaccines for herd immunity to work.
“At this point, there are only 92 per cent of kids immunised against measles, mumps, rubella, and polio. Do you know how many children can become severely ill or perhaps — God forbid — die? And we know now that global immunisation efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives. That’s six lives every minute. 95 per cent of those lives are children. As a parent myself, I had both of my kids vaccinated… but I do wonder why a parent would make the choice not to protect their child?”
The lively debate wasn’t the only surprise in store. Later in the programme, Goldberg left the audience in shock when she broke the news that Robert Redford had died earlier that day. The reaction in the studio was instant, with gasps and screams as people processed the announcement.
Entertainment Weekly later reported that the audience had been cut off from their phones due to a pre-taped segment filmed just before the live show, meaning they hadn’t seen the headlines before Goldberg delivered them on air.
It was a morning of unexpected twists on a show that usually blends politics and pop culture, with Goldberg managing to combine a public health spot check and a breaking Hollywood story all in one episode.
