Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher mocked states that have bribed their citizens to get the COVID-19 vaccine in his monologue Friday evening.
Maher returned to his show “Real Time With Bill Maher” after testing positive for COVID despite being fully vaccinated. He jokingly said the U.S. is at the “Bob Barker phase” of the pandemic as states are awarding Americans for getting vaccinated.
“Now, in America, we’re bribing people to get the vaccine. They’re giving away college scholarships, free beer, and baseball tickets. California is giving away $160 million in cash and prizes. We’re at the Bob Barker phase of the pandemic,” he said.
Maher mocked the country for having to bribe people to get vaccinated while the rest of the world desires to become immunized.
“I love this country. All over the world people are dying to get this vaccine but here they got to give you a jet ski first, then maybe I will consider,” Maher joked.
He also poked fun at people for asking how Maher tested positive after getting the vaccine. He responded that the vaccine is not fully effective in preventing the virus. (RELATED: Bill Maher Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Friday Show Is Canceled)
“The other stupid thing, people said ‘how could you have tested positive if you had the vaccine?’ It happens, they never said it was 100% effective, nobody ever did. The same week it happened to me, nine Yankees who had the vaccine tested positive which is supporting my theory that virus comes from bats,” he said.
Maher said questions regarding the virus’ origins must be viewed scientifically rather than as a political issue. He listed sources that believe in the lab-leak theory and said that we currently do not know whether the virus stemmed naturally or from a lab.
“This is not political, just treat this as a science issue. We don’t know where it came from. Well, now the Wall Street Journal says it might be the lab, we have the former CDC heads, they think it’s the lab,” he said. “The Biden administration now is looking into it. It might be the lab.