Joe Rogan Clarifies Controversial Vaccine Comments, After Dr. Anthony Fauci Takes Notice: “I’m Not An Anti-Vaccine Person”

UPDATED, 2:01 PM: On Thursday’s episode of his Spotify podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan clarified controversial remarks he made, regarding vaccination against Covid-19, which Dr. Anthony Fauci took to task.

“There’s some legitimate science behind [these vaccines],” he told his guest, comedian Andrew Santino. “This is the thing about this whole thing, people being upset at me: I’m not an anti-vax person.”

Rogan reiterated comments he had made on the podcast, which served as context for his more controversial remarks. “I said, ‘I believe [the vaccines are] safe,’ and I encouraged many people to take them,” he explained. “My parents were vaccinated. I just said, ‘I don’t think that if you’re a young, healthy person, that you need it.’”

From Rogan’s perspective, any quarrel Fauci has with him is one of semantics. “Their argument was, you need it for other people,” he continued. “That makes more sense, but that’s a different argument. That’s a different conversation.”

The comments Fauci took issue with were the following: “If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no. 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.”

It was Wednesday on The Today Show that Fauci decided to respond, calling Rogan’s statement “incorrect.”

“The reason why is, you’re talking about yourself in a vacuum,” he said. “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.”

As Fauci noted, even people who don’t show symptoms of Covid-19 are at risk of “propagating the outbreak, and you may inadvertently and innocently infect someone who really could have a problem with a severe outcome.”

“So if you want to worry about yourself, and not society, then that’s OK,” he continued. “But if you say to yourself even if I get infected, I could do damage to somebody else…That’s the reason why you’ve got to be careful and get vaccinated.

PREVIOUSLY: Dr. Anthony Fauci has weighed in on recent anti-vax claims made by comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan, shooting them down as incorrect.

During an episode of his Spotify podcast The Joe Rogan Experience on Tuesday, Rogan admitted he wouldn’t recommend the vaccine to people who are young and healthy. “If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no,” he said. “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.”

In an appearance Wednesday on The Today Show, Fauci explained why he takes issue with the comments made by Rogan. “The reason why is, you’re talking about yourself in a vacuum,” he said. “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.”

As Fauci noted, even people who don’t show symptoms of Covid-19 are at risk of “propagating the outbreak, and you may inadvertently and innocently infect someone who really could have a problem with a severe outcome.”

“So if you want to worry about yourself, and not society, then that’s OK,” he continued. “But if you say to yourself even if I get infected, I could do damage to somebody else…That’s the reason why you’ve got to be careful and get vaccinated.”

Thus far, Spotify has not commented on Rogan’s remarks, though they have also proven controversial on social media, and go against CDC guidelines.

In any case, Rogan did kick off his discussion of Covid-19 vaccines by noting that he does believe it is safe to get vaccinated. “I think for the most part, it’s safe to get vaccinated,” he said. “I do. I do.”

Fauci’s entire statement on Rogan’s comments can be viewed below.

“You can get infected, and will get infected, if you put yourself at risk.” -Dr. Anthony Fauci responding to podcast host Joe Rogan’s suggestion that young people not get the COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/6E02GI31VV

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 28, 2021