Rogan quickly began trending on social media on Tuesday after a recent clip from his podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’ prompted critics to accuse him of spreading Covid-19 disinformation and feeding into vaccine hesitancy.
In fact, Rogan said on his show that he believes getting vaccinated is “safe” for most people – before he argued that not everyone has to get a jab.
“I think for the most part, it’s safe to get vaccinated. I do. But if you’re like 21-years-old and you say to me, ‘should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no,” Rogan said in the clip, first posted by a journalist for the left-wing Media Matters.
The podcaster went on to argue that a healthy person who exercises regularly, eats well, and has no health conditions that weaken their immune system likely “don’t need to worry about this.”
The group Rogan believes should not be subjected to vaccines at all is children, revealing his own two kids both got Covid-19 and claiming that in the end, “it was nothing.” Adding that he is not “diminishing” that children have died from the virus, Rogan blasted people who are pushing for children to be vaccinated when most are far less vulnerable to the virus than adults.
“You should be vaccinated if you’re vulnerable,” Rogan said.
Rogan’s vaccine opinion has gotten him once again on the firing line against liberal critics. The former ‘Fear Factor’ host has become a frequent target since his podcast exclusively moved to Spotify and quickly became the network’s most popular show. He’s been criticized for everything from his views on trans women in sports to his openness to interviews with controversial figures such as Alex Jones.
Others also criticized Spotify, which has even seen employees protest the hiring of Rogan since the platform went into business with him in what was reportedly a $100 million contract.
While Rogan cited his own experience with his children when criticizing mass vaccinations, kids and even younger adults are also statistically far less vulnerable to the virus than older people. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people under 45 account for less than 3% of the Covid-19 deaths in the US. The highest is 65 and older, which covers over 80%.
Comorbidities – underlying conditions that weaken the immune system, such as diabetes and hypertension – are also frequent among the hundreds of thousands of patients who have died from the virus.
There are currently no vaccines on the market authorized for anyone under 16 to take. Pfizer’s vaccine is approved for patients 16 and older, while Moderna has been approved for people 18 and over.
During another episode of his podcast this year, Rogan revealed he is not planning on getting a vaccine himself. Asked whether he would get the vaccine when available, he replied, “no. I mean I would if I felt like I needed it.”
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