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- Fox News host Tucker Carlson went on a rant about the military's vaccine mandate on Monday night.
- He claimed the mandate is a purge on "sincere Christians" and "men with high testosterone levels."
- COVID-19 vaccines are the 18th immunization mandated by the Department of Defense.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson made his strongest anti-vaccine false claim to date on Monday night.
Similar to other monologues from the opinion host where he's trashed top US military leaders, Carlson alleged a baseless conspiracy behind the Department of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate – only the latest approved shot in its longstanding vaccination requirement.
"The point of mandatory vaccination is to identify the sincere Christians in the ranks, the free thinkers, the men with high testosterone levels, and anyone else who doesn't love Joe Biden and make them leave immediately," Carlson said. "It's a takeover of the U.S. military."
-nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) September 21, 2021
Carlson did not present any evidence to back up his claims on testosterone levels, nor did he offer a working definition for "sincere Christians" and what that has to do with vaccines.
"There is zero scientific basis for any of this," Carlson said at another point. "The fighting strength of the military is young healthy people, virtually all of them at extremely low risk of dying from COVID."
As Insider's Aylin Woodward reported in August, the vaccines have been proven to be effective against the Delta variant.
Fox News did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
These coronavirus vaccines are the 18th to be mandated by the Defense Department, depending on regional assignments. Active-duty troops already must have up to date immunizations for shots like chickenpox, MMR, and Tdap.
Military vaccinations in the US date back to the Revolutionary War, when General George Washington mandated troops get vaccinated for smallpox. The close quarters and stress of combat conditions historically made disease one of the greatest threats to troops, and contributed to the necessity of vaccinations.
Immunization jabs are a routine part of pre-deployment medical screenings to ensure a soldier has all the required vaccinations, as well as any region specific requirements like Japanese encephalitis for those headed to Japan and Korea.
Anthrax requires five shots to adequately protect against the bacteria that could be used as a bioweapon.
A service member who refused a vaccination - and can't produce a record of having already received it - won't be allowed to deploy and is likely to face discipline for that refusal, including being kicked out.