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‘The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon Talks White House Efforts To Lure “White, Conservative Men” Toward Vaccination

On Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon tackled the vaccine hesitancy of a certain demographic and the White House’s efforts to bring them into the fold.

“Even though vaccinations are up, studies show that a lot of white, conservative men don’t want to get vaccinated, and now the White House is trying to convince them to get a vaccine by advertising on NASCAR, CMT and Deadliest Catch,” Fallon explained. “That’s right: NASCAR, CMT and Deadliest Catch. Basically, Larry the Cable Guy’s DVR.

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“If this plan fails,” he continued, “the White House is just going to include the vaccine with every pack of Slim Jims.”

From Fallon’s perspective, Discovery Channel reality series Deadliest Catch might actually be able to reach some conservatives. “Although more careful viewers will be like, ‘Before making a decision, I want to get a second opinion from the Wicked Tuna guys,'” he joked.

In his opening monologue, Fallon also touched on a “big vaccine announcement” made today by the CDC and FDA. As he explained, the federal agencies put a pause on distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine, in order to investigate cases of serious blood clots that six U.S. individuals developed after taking it.

“That’s right, they’re recommending a pause,” Fallon said, “and anyone who’s ever been dumped was like, ‘Oh boy, we know what pause means.’”

The host then turned to follow-up comments made by leading immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci during a White House presser held earlier today. Fauci encouraged those who have already received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to stay calm, noting that the chances of developing complications appear to be less than one in a million.

“Fauci’s like, ‘Basically, the odds are about the same as me getting drafted into the NBA.’ Seriously, Fauci has a better chance of replacing Regé-Jean Page in Bridgerton. It’s a really rare event,” joked Fallon. “It’s like seeing a working self checkout machine at CVS; that’s how rare.”

Check out Fallon’s entire monologue above.

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