BUCK: Jedediah, it’s Buck. Clay and I, we heard this before you came on. You and I have known each other a long time. You’re a very, very gracious person in this business. I know you used to cohost The View and I just gotta say, they’re so out of line. They’re wrong and rude. So I give you credit for trying to handle it. But what were you trying to say to them that they refused to let you say?
BILA: Yeah. Well, people come out there from an emotional place, and I understand that. You know, we’ve seen a lot of hardship this past year. People lost loved ones, people themselves got sick. People lost businesses as a result of these lockdowns. People lost income because they had to stay home and homeschool their kids and figure out what to do because schools were shut down well beyond the point where they should have been.
So many people have suffered in many different ways. What I was simply trying to say was that these mandates don’t make any sense. They’re not scientific because, once again: You can get the virus, you can transmit the virus if you had the vaccine or if you’re unvaccinated. It’s the same thing. So why is there a separate set of rules? You see breakthrough cases happening — hundreds of thousands of breakthrough cases all around the country — with vaccinated people getting sick.
And now you just saw Fauci come out and said, “Oh, you know what? They’re also landing in the hospital and deaths are higher than we thought, too. So let’s go get another booster.” People are looking at, what, are they gonna get a booster every three months for this thing? So I was just trying to bring some sanity and understand, “Yes, of course people suffered. But that still doesn’t change the reality of the science underlying all this.”
We looked at the CDC, and it’s become a joke. It’s a clown show over there. They drafted their school guidelines in when kids should return to school with the teachers unions? People need to wake up. So I was simply saying, “This shouldn’t be an emotional argument. We have to talk about natural immunity.” There is so much of the population, Buck… You look at nurses, doctors who were in the trenches, helping sick people while some of us — myself included — had the privilege of sitting at home and festering in my own fear at the time, which was absurd and went on for me even way too long because I was looking at all —
BUCK: Yeah, Jedediah, can I just jump in really quick to say to everybody again: You and I have known each other for over a decade now, and in the beginning of this I remember we were talking and you were willing to listen to the experts, so to speak. And I think that you’re like a lot of people out there who has come through this from the prism of, “They keep being wrong, they keep lying, and they’re shutting down legitimate questions and legitimate lines of inquiry,” so you’ve lost trust.
BILA: That’s exactly right. And people say to me, “Well, you worked from home!” That’s right. When I first… As you know, I got covid; my husband got it; my son was exposed right at the start of this whole pandemic. There were no answers. You couldn’t get a covid test. You couldn’t get into a doctor’s office. You were told to stay home. Wear a mask? Don’t wear a mask? There was a lot of confusion as to how severe this was gonna be.
We didn’t have the stats on with covid deaths versus from covid. The problem I have is not that people at the start were confused and were saying, “Well, maybe we do need to shut down for three weeks; I don’t know.” That place, I can understand — and believe me, I take ownership that I hung onto that way too long because then I started to worry about my parents. Bottom line: I bought the story for too long.
But at some point, became. Look at the statistics. Look at what’s happening with people who are dying from covid versus with covid. Look at what’s happening to kids. You’re gonna be talk about emergency use of a vaccination when there’s a 99.997%-plus survival rate? Something is not adding up. And, you know, they mentioned the surgeon general.
The Surgeon General went to The View and said, “Oh, natural immunity see, we don’t know the exact numerical value for that so we have to discredit the whole thing.” Had I been at the table that day, I would have said, “Do you know the exact numerical value for vaccinated people? Do you know what that looks like? Because you’re assuming that vaccinated people are safer to be around and we’re seeing breakthrough cases around the country.”
Guess what? I have natural immunity. It’s sky-high! It’s been tested at multiple levels. I’m not gonna get into my blood work, but believe me, I have some of the best infectious disease doctors in New York City that have come to me and said, “We’re not worried about you.” So that has been tested. For them to deny that, that is not following the science. And I’m tired of people losing their jobs. I’m tired of people not being able to work.
I’m tired of people having to say, “Well, I’m not going to follow the medical advice from my doctor,” because there are legitimate people with medical exemptions in this country and they have to risk not being able to put food on the table for their families. Why? So that Bill de Blasio can get some sort of political or financial payout down the road? It’s preposterous.
CLAY: We agree with a lot of what you’re saying, Jedediah. That’s not a surprise. And, by the way, for people out there who wonder why this show is growing so much, you can compare and contrast the conversation we’re having with you with the conversation they had on The View where they basically shut you down and didn’t allow you to discuss anything.
We have natural immunity on this show. My wife and I have both had it. We’ve tested positive and recovered from it, and I am not vaccinated for the same reason you are, which is because I still have natural immunity, which is shown in the Israeli data to be more powerful than vaccinated immunity. Now, I do want to ask you this, though. You know what’s — and I give you credit for going on The View and trying to talk some sense into them.
You know how, unfortunately, it’s going to play in the media. And, by the way, I want everybody out there listening to know exactly what’s gonna happen. They are going to attack you, Jedediah, as a crazy, anti-vax lunatic. That’s the way the mainstream media is going to react.
That’s what they’ve done to Buck and I and everybody else. Are you prepared for that attack? And again I give you credit for being willing to go on and even get shouted down on that show in order to share important facts and truth with an audience that may not have very much experience with either of those things right now.
BILA: You know, I have to say I don’t really care how the media portrays it. Because what I’m saying right now is grounded in science, is grounded in health, and is grounded in facts. I went so far as to tell them, you know, I’m not anti-vax. What does that even mean? What I am for is empowering individuals to make these decisions for themselves. Talk to your doctor, talk to your trusted doctor, talk to your family.
Think about your own risk assessment. I mean, the idea that we’re not it makes that someone that’s 80 years old with comorbidities is a very different case than someone who’s 20 years old with no comorbidities. That’s not the same thing when it comes to this new vaccine. It’s brand-new. There are clinical trials that don’t even exist for large segments of the population with preexisting conditions.
That’s a fact that they admit to. Of course the CDC will say, “Oh, sure just get it anyway.” But the fine print is we don’t actually know what this is gonna do to you. So people must be empowered to make these decisions for themselves. That should not be controversial in the land of the free — and my child has received other trials of vaccinations. I did that risk assessment for myself.
When the vaccine for covid-19 came out, my parents designed that they wanted to get vaccinated. They consulted with their doctors, I fully supported them in that decision for them. And I made those appointments for them; I drove them to those appointments. I am not here to tell anyone what to do I am not here to play doctor. The people who are here to play doctor are the ones who are saying, “Everyone should get this vaccine in order to be able to work.
“Regardless of what your doctor is saying, regardless of your medical history, regardless the fact that you had this virus and the silver lining for you was that you came out with this natural immunity that’s verifiable, you should do what I’m telling you to do because I’m afraid.” That is not science. That is emotion-driven nonsense. And at some point, if you fell into that like I did initially, you have to own up and say, “This doesn’t make sense. That is not what is showing up on paper.”
So that’s what I did — and I don’t really care, to be honest. I mean, listen… (chuckles) Buck knows me for a long time. I say what I feel. I try to ground myself in fact. I take a lot of heat for it from time to time. But the reality is that facts matter, particularly when you’re talking about this. You are talking about people’s health. I have a little baby. I have a 2-year-old.
He was exposed to covid. I’m not going to be manipulated by politicians or political pundits into what I should do for the well-being of my child. I am going to consult with his pediatrician who I trust. I’m going to make decisions the based on the fact he was exposed to covid-19, and people need to leave me alone at the end of the day. Worry about yourself, worry about your family, and let me worry about mine.
BUCK: Well, Jedediah, I’d give you a standing ovation but I didn’t want the clapping to interrupt what you were saying.
BILA: (laughing)
CLAY: There’s a lot of moms out there right now that are like, “Preach! Preach!” I think this is where so much of the energy is coming from.
BUCK: Jedediah is like Mom Brigade Special Forces, Clay.
BILA: Can I also say, guys, before I got into television, I taught in school. We now know that covid-19 is more dangerous for kids, for children than the flu. I taught through six flu associations. There was never a mention of a mandate for the flu shot on kids.
CLAY: Of course not.
BILA: It was never social distancing. There were never masks. People really need to think about that in light of children. It’s a very different conversation like I said for adults. But this is a very different conversation depending on upon the person. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and we know that because we know people with comorbidities, people of different ages have been affected differently.
So why are we creating blanket policy? It doesn’t make sense. So when people are willing to have the likes of Dr. Fauci or Bill de Blasio or Gavin Newsom decide for them what their health for the next two or three years looks like, while these clinical trials are being done — we don’t even have all the information yet — then, you know what? You want to make that decision? That’s fine by you. That is not fine by me, and there’s a lot of people in this country who are very uncomfortable with that and they see the game. So, see the game or be played by the game.
BUCK: The memoir is Dear Hartley. The author is Jedediah Bila. Jedediah, great having you on. Come back soon, and best of luck with the memoir.
BILA: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Hartley does too! (chuckles)
BUCK: Thanks so much.