WATCH: Margaret Brennan’s 2021 Vaccine Comments Clash With Her Latest Claim [VIDEO]

Adriana Stone 0 3 min read

WATCH: Margaret Brennan’s 2021 Vaccine Comments Clash With Her Latest Claim

Margaret Brennan is facing criticism after an old video resurfaced that appears to clash with comments she made during a Sunday interview about COVID vaccines and children.

During the recent exchange, Brennan told Dr. Mehmut Oz that parents were not forced to give their children COVID vaccines. Oz pushed back, arguing that families were pressured and sometimes faced obstacles if they did not follow vaccine requirements or programs.

Here is the exchange presented in the source report:

Dr. Mehmut Oz: “The question again, this comes back to a much more fundamental issue, Margaret. Do parents have the right to ask questions? We already experienced what happened during COVID when we took away that right from parents. They were forced to give their kids COVID vaccines.

Margaret Brennan: (interrupting) They were not forced to give their kids vaccines…

Dr. Mehmut Oz: Well, they were pushed hard and oftentimes hindered from doing what they wanted to do, like going out socially if their kids were not included in these programs…

Margaret Brennan: (interrupting) No, of course it’s not up to the state.

Dr. Mehmut Oz: It’s not up to the federal government. It’s up to the states. States do this. The request of the president is to make sure that states offer parents either eligibility because of religious beliefs or other reasons why they may not want to have their kids take all the vaccines in order. Let’s pick a specific example. Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B vaccine I happen to like. I got the hepatitis B vaccine, but it helps adults avoiding issues if they’re involved. For example, in my case as a doctor, if I were to hit myself with a needle with a patient, but it usually is for drug abusers and for people who are involved in — or infants who could be exposed by a caregiver, by someone in their house, by parent unwittingly, which is why it is provided extraordinarily.

The first clip was shared by Chief Nerd with the caption, “CBS’ Margaret Brennan says parents were never forced to give their kids COVID vaccines.”

That video quickly drew attention because another clip from 2021 shows Brennan discussing vaccine requirements for children. In that earlier exchange, she asked West Virginia Governor Jim Justice why vaccination rates were not increasing among younger residents. She then brought up California’s policy for students ages 12 to 17.

Here is the 2021 exchange:

Margaret Brennan: Why aren’t you able to convince more of your constituents to go get immunized?

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice: Well, Margaret, we’re a long ways from being in crisis in West Virginia. If you look—

Margaret Brennan: Um, you do seem to have hit a wall with the younger people in your state. You’ve done all these things with mascots, with your bulldog baby dog. You’ve got— given away guns. You’re giving away these things. Why can’t you increase vaccinations? You yourself at your press conference this week encouraged parents to vaccinate their children. California’s governor’s mandating. Kids 12 to 17 get a vaccine to go into the schoolroom after around January. Are you going to mandate it for school kids as well?

Jim Justice: No chance.

Margaret Brennan: Why? No chance. Why? You mandate as governor—

A second post also highlighted another statement attributed to Brennan from the same period:

“..For small children, you mandate that their parents get them those immunizations so that they are safe in the classroom…why don’t you want to protect those children [from Covid]?”

The two clips do not erase the distinction between federal action, state rules, school requirements, and social pressure. But they do show Brennan discussing mandates and required immunizations for children in earlier coverage, while now rejecting the description that children were forced to receive COVID vaccines.

That contrast is the central issue raised by the resurfaced footage. Critics say CBS should address the apparent inconsistency and issue a correction if the Sunday segment misstated what families experienced during the pandemic.

Here is the first video post shared in connection with the recent exchange:

The older footage was shared by Jefferey Jaxen:

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