Whoopi Goldberg Shades Meghan McCain's 'Vaccine Passport' Rant: Answer 'The Original Question'

Whoopi Goldberg has just a few days left to react to Meghan McCain's shenanigans, but she's certainly making the most of it. On Tuesday, The View's longtime moderator shaded her conservative co-host for going on a rant about New York City's new vaccine requirement for indoor dining and gym use, a mandate she believes is "entering into science fiction, civil liberties territory." True to form, Goldberg was having none of it, and she reminded McCain that "the original question" was about mask mandates for school-age children. "This isn't about anything but masks on kids in schools," she said, making her feelings clear.

Despite discussing the same topic every day for the past four months, the women of The View were particularly fired up on Tuesday morning. Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin stuck to their talking points as they discussed surging COVID-19 cases across the country — Behar called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a "negligent, homicidal sociopath," while Hostin asked Republicans why they "want to kill off [their] base" with misinformation — before Goldberg turned the discussion over to McCain. "Shouldn't everybody's public health matter, and the safety of everyone, particularly little kids who can't get the vaccine yet?" she asked McCain.

"Americans are very wary of our institutions, we're very wary of our leaders, and there's not a lot of trust left," replied McCain. "So I think people have just felt like they don't know what to believe, and they don't know what to do because so many of our leaders throughout this pandemic have said for Americans to do one thing, and then done something completely different."

McCain then turned her attention to Mayor Bill DeBlasio's announcement that New York City restaurants and gyms will soon require proof of vaccination for entry. "I know it's easy to say that it's just Trump supporters and Republicans that aren't getting vaccinated, but in New York City, only 35% of Black Americans have been vaccinated," she said. "Only 40% of Hispanics, and only 48% of white people in New York City, which is a place that should, in theory, if it's so liberal and it's only Republicans that aren't getting the vaccine, that they should be vaccinated as well."

"Mayor DeBlasio is putting people in a position where you're going to turn away Black Americans at a higher rate than you are other races because of this vaccine passport," continued McCain. "I feel like the conundrums we're facing right now are literally something out of an ethical class in college, or something out of a science-fiction movie ... I think we are about to see a lot of civil unrest about these vaccine passports and about mask mandates and about where we're heading, unfortunately, going forward."

PARENTS IN MIDDLE OF MASKING DEBATE: The co-hosts react after a New York state teachers union is opposing a vaccine mandate for teachers and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bans school mask mandates. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/D1ikipRiOG

— The View (@TheView) August 3, 2021

McCain has been saying similar things for the past few weeks (although the "you're going to turn away Black Americans at a higher rate" comment is new), but this morning, Goldberg just couldn't let it slide. "Okay, I'm going to go back to the original question, which is really about schools," she said, as Sara Haines appeared next to her on-screen. "You've got three kids in schools, Sara. Or maybe not all three are in schools, but you know — this isn't about anything but masks on kids in schools."

After Haines said her piece, Goldberg advocated for vaccine requirements in schools. "If you're going to teach little kids, you need to be vaccinated. If you're teaching in a school, you need to be vaccinated!" she said. "You need to take care of every kid in there. I would think the thing you love to do is to teach — well, you have to teach by example. If you want to be taken care of, you must take care of others."

"This is not about Black people or white people," she continued, a likely reference to McCain's earlier remark. "This is about, listen. All you have to do is listen to the amount of people losing their lives who said, 'Well, I don't know if I want to get vaccinated.'"

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Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.