Popular podcaster, comedian, martial arts commentator and former host of Fear Factor, Joe Rogan, recently came under fire this week for his controversial COVID-19 vaccine comments.
During an episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan discouraged young, healthy people from getting the vaccine, ultimately saying that if you eat right and exercise, you beat COVID-19 if you happen to get it. His comments came with a lot of backlash, even from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease.
“If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I’ll go no,” Rogan said.
The multi-hyphenate addressed the backlash on the latest episode of his podcast, saying that he understood the importance of vaccines, and that he’s not “anti-vax.”
“The White House commented on what I said about vaccines. [Fauci] disagreed with me …” he said on Thursday’s episode. “There’s some legitimate science behind this … I’m not an anti-vax person. In fact, I said I believe they’re safe and I encourage many people to take them. My parents were vaccinated. I said I don’t think that if you’re a young, healthy person, that you need it.”
He went on to clarify his stance on young people getting the vaccine, saying that healthy 21 year olds, while they are not at the highest risk for having serious problems from COVID-19, they should think about other people.
“That makes more sense, but that’s a different argument, that’s a different conversation …” he said, before explaining that many of his on-air comments aren’t fully thought out. “If someone said, ‘Yeah, young, healthy 21-year-old people who eat well and exercise are not at high risk for coronavirus, but you should think about other people.’ I would say, ‘Well that’s a different argument, and yes, that makes sense.’ But I would say, ‘Are those people vaccinated? And shouldn’t we vaccinate the vulnerable people?’ And then we’d have a different conversation. The problem today is everything is all headlines and highlights and it’s all clickbait, which is fine, that’s the business.”
You can watch his full explanation below.
