On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” White House NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby defended Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician Second Class Zach Loesch being kicked out of the service due to the vaccine mandate after Loesch saved lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian by stating that the vaccine “helps save lives, too.”
Co-host said, [relevant exchange begins around 9:10] “It’s just hard because we talked about this amazing hero who’s in the Coast Guard and he rescued someone who could potentially drown down there in the Fort Myers area, and now he’s getting kicked out…and so, that’s just — it’s so hard as Americans to know that that person wouldn’t be saved if he weren’t working right now. And in 30 to 60 days, he’s going to be kicked out. So, he saved a life, and all of these military men and women have saved so many lives over the course of their training. So, it’s just really disheartening to see that, for religious reasons, when they don’t get a vaccine, they’re going to get kicked out.”
Kirby responded, “The vaccine itself helps save lives, too.”
He added that they don’t want to lose anyone to the vaccine mandate, but it’s a “valid military requirement that helps unit readiness.”
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