Joe Rogan backpedaled Thursday on his claim that healthy young Americans don’t need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — insisting he’s “not an anti-vaxx person.”
On his popular podcast “Joe Rogan Experience,” the 53-year-old comedian downplayed his own credibility after his comments sparked outrage on social media and a response from Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“I’m not a doctor, I’m a f-cking moron,” Rogan said. “I’m not a respected source of information, even for me … But I at least try to be honest about what I’m saying.”
He clarified that the comments made on his podcast last week — that young, healthy people don’t “need to worry about ” getting the shots — didn’t stem from a belief that vaccines are dangerous.
“I’m not an anti-vaxx person,” he said. “I said I believe they’re safe and I encourage many people to take them. My parents were vaccinated. I just said that if you’re a young, healthy person that you don’t need it.”
He added that he was scheduled to get a Johnson & Johnson jab before it was put on pause by the feds earlier this month.
Rogan also acknowledged claims by Fauci and the White House that his comments were incorrect — but stopped short of admitting he was wrong.
“There’s some legitimate science behind this…Their argument was, you need it for other people,” he said. “But that’s a different argument. That’s a different conversation.”
On Wednesday, Fauci slammed Rogan’s claim that young healthy people don’t need to be vaccinated, calling the mentality wrong-headed and selfish.
“You’re talking about yourself in a vacuum,” Fauci said. “If you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that’s OK. But 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.”
Rogan’s podcast reportedly rakes in more than 190 million downloads per month.