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‘Hurt' Mayim Bialik Sets the Record Straight on ‘Anti-Vaxxer' Accusations

After Mayim Bialik faced backlash for her past comments about vaccines, "The Big Bang Theory" alum is clearing the air.

File: Actress Mayim Bialik arrives at the Saban Community Clinic’s 43rd Annual Dinner Gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Nov. 18, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Mayim Bialik wants to straighten a few things out -- starting with accusations of her being an "anti-vaxxer."

The slated primetime "Jeopardy!" host addressed the matter during the latest episode of The New York Post podcast, "Jalen Rose: Renaissance Man." Referring to an article published in October, the 45-year-old actress said, "After The New York Times did a piece on me which I found really kind of like, neutral...[I] can't tell you the number of people who were like, 'She's an anti-vaxxer.'"

The New York Times article touched on the controversy stemming from past comments made in Bialik's 2012 parenting guide, "Beyond the Sling." In the book, the star -- who is mom to teenage sons Frederick and Miles with ex Michael Stone -- wrote, "We made an informed decision not to vaccinate our children." The story also includes Bialik's clarification that despite the past comments, she and her children would get vaccinated against coronavirus.

"And it's like, 'Did you not read the article?,'" she continued. "That upsets me just as a human. It doesn't upset me as a celebrity so much because, like, I'm grateful to my publicist for reminding me not to read comments."

Stars Open Up About Coronavirus Battles

"I had a little slip," she said. "But the fact is, like, when people say things about you that aren't true, that hurts. And that hurts, whether it's between you and your girlfriend or, you and your lover or, you know, on The New York Times comments section... I really just wanted to be like, 'I'm not an anti-vaxxer.' Like, my kids were vaccinated late. That's true. And we were vaccinated."

Later in the interview, Bialik confirmed that she wanted to get her kids vaccinated as soon as she could.

"When they were eligible for that vaccine," she said, "they got it right away." Explaining that she understands the hesitancy when it comes to parents with younger children, she added, "I get it, we're at a place of a lot of uncertainty for a lot of people. But this is also an unprecedented thing. This is not like, the common cold. This is not even like the common flu. This is a different thing."

This wouldn't be the first the "Blossom" alum clarified the matter.

In October 2020, she also posted a YouTube video confirming that she and her children would get the COVID-19 vaccine and flu shots.

"This year I'm gonna do something I literally haven't done in 30 years," she said in the almost 10-minute video. "I'm gonna get a vaccine. I know! And guess what? I'm actually gonna get two." "You might be saying, 'Hey, wait a second, Dr. Mayim Bialik, you don't believe in vaccines!" she continued.

"You're one of those 'anti-vaxxers.' I wrote a book about 10 years ago about my experience parenting, and at the time my children had not received the typical schedule of vaccines. But I have never, not once, said that vaccines are not valuable, not useful, or not necessary, because they are."

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