With the U.S. finally nearing the end of its COVID pandemic crisis, some of the most popular media figures in the country are doing everything they can to drag things out. Over the weekend, Joe Rogan—one of the most listened to people in America—used his podcast’s soapbox to urge young people not to get the COVID-19 vaccine. “If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I’ll go, No,” said the ex–Fear Factor host turned America’s bro-iest orator. “If you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well, like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”
During the Friday episode of Spotify’s The Joe Rogan Experience, the host did suggest that “you should get vaccinated if you’re vulnerable,” adding, “I think, for the most part, it’s safe to get vaccinated.” But he went on to emphasize that “COVID was nothing” and was “no big deal” for his two children who contracted it. While Rogan is correct that children and young people rarely die from the virus, herd immunity only works if the majority of the population is vaccinated. As for his claim that “healthy” 20-somethings don’t need the vaccine, there have been numerous cases in which young professional athletes in the NBA, the MLB, the NFL, and the NHL have contracted COVID-19 and struggled to recover. In some of these cases, full recovery took months; Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum still has to use an inhaler due to COVID’s long-term impact on his lungs.
Rogan’s remarks to millions of listeners come as public health officials are still working to sway vaccine-hesitant Americans—a difficult process that may balloon into a bigger problem. A primary source of anti-vaccine sentiment appears to be younger, conservative men, a demographic that happens to overlap with Rogan’s listenership, which is 71% male and has an average age of 24. To combat Rogan’s comments, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield spoke to CNN on Wednesday, saying, “Did Joe Rogan become a medical doctor while we weren’t looking? I’m not sure that taking scientific and medical advice from Joe Rogan is perhaps the most productive way for people to get their information.”
Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, appeared on NBC’s Today show on Wednesday morning to echo her message. “Even if you don’t have any symptoms, you are propagating the outbreak,” Fauci said when asked about Rogan’s remarks. “Because it is likely that you—even if you have no symptoms—that you may inadvertently and innocently then infect someone else, who might infect someone who really could have a problem with a severe outcome. So if you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that’s okay.”
Dissent from the White House aside, Rogan did find one high-profile entity in his corner. Tucker Carlson used his Tuesday night program on Fox News to make a case in Rogan’s defense. “If you’ve gotten the vaccine, why is other peoples’ refusal to get the vaccine a problem for you?” Carlson asked. “If the vaccine is so effective, why are the people who choose to get mad at the people who choose not to get it? Huh? Do people who’ve slimmed down from gastric bypass yell at fat people on the street? You wouldn’t think so. It’s not really their business.” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also stood by Rogan when directly confronted about the vaccine comments by Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw. “What I will say is we have 8 million creators, and hundreds of millions of pieces of content,” Ek reportedly said during a media call, essentially dodging Shaw’s question before implying that Rogan had not violated Spotify’s “content policy.” He went on to praise Rogan’s success since joining Spotify several months ago.
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