Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed Joe Rogan’s comments on COVID-19 vaccinations on the Today Show, April 28th.
Earlier this week, we first reported that Spotify had placed a Joe Rogan podcast episode ‘under review’ following his comments about the COVID-19 vaccine. Now, Dr. Anthony Fauci himself has weighed in on the matter.
Spotify is now facing more pressure to edit Joe Rogan following comments he made over COVID-19 vaccinations. Earlier this week, we first reported that Spotify had placed the April 23rd episode ‘under review’ after Rogan advised younger people not to take the vaccine if they are healthy.
“People say, ‘do you think it’s safe to get vaccinated?’ and I’ve said, ‘Yeah, I think for the most part it’s safe to get vaccinated, I do, I do,’” Rogan said. “But if you’re 21 years old, and you ask me if you should get vaccinated, I’d say no.”
That advice has now drawn sharp rebuke from Dr. Anthony Fauci himself, who slammed Rogan for thinking selfishly and ‘inaccurately’ about the vaccine.
“You’re talking about yourself in a vacuum,” Fauci criticized. “You’re worried about yourself getting infected and the likelihood that you’re not going to get any symptoms. But you can get infected, and will get infected, if you put yourself at risk.”
“So if you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that’s okay,” Fauci continued. “But if you’re saying to yourself, even if I get infected, I could do damage to somebody else even if I have no symptoms at all, and that’s the reason why you’ve got to be careful and get vaccinated.”
When asked whether younger people should get vaccinated, Fauci predictably said “absolutely.” But Rogan has long questioned the guidance of the CDC, immunologists like Fauci, and various government officials on dealing with COVID-19.
“Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person?” Rogan asked. “Look, don’t do anything stupid, but you should take care of yourself. If you’re a healthy person and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”
The comments have since gone viral and drawn reactions from both sides. Among the supportive voices is Tucker Carlson, who applauded Rogan’s sentiments while questioning the move to mass-vaccinate the public. That level of attention is now putting more pressure on Spotify to take action, though the streaming platform hasn’t edited or removed the episode — at least not yet.
Earlier this month, DMN first reported that Spotify had removed 42 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, with no specific explanations offered. Whether this becomes the 43rd episode to face deletion is unclear, though Spotify is reportedly considering action against the show over ‘COVID misinformation’.