Dr. Anthony Fauci, often under fire for conflicting messages about COVID-19, was adamant, Tuesday, that rap artist Nicki Minaj was spreading “vaccine misinformation” when she claimed, in a post to Twitter, that an acquaintance suffered from severe side effects including a form of male impotence.
Minaj did not attend Monday’s Met Gala, commenting on Twitter that the event required attendees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and she has yet to decide on whether to receive the shot.
“They want you to get vaccinated for the Met,” Minaj tweeted. “if I get vaccinated it won’t [be] for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one.”
After being challenged by commenters on Twitter, Minaj explained her vaccine hesitancy.
“My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent,” Minaj wrote. “His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”
According to Fox News, Twitter does not believe Minaj’s tweets constitute “vaccine misinformation,” possibly because Minaj took part in a back-and-forth with MSNBC host Joy Reid over Minaj’s claims.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, “the nation’s leading infectious disease expert,” according to NBC News, took umbrage with Minaj’s claims and disputed Minaj’s story about testicular enlargement being a result of COVID-19 vaccination in an interview with CNN.
“There’s no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen,” Fauci said. “So the answer to your question is no.”
Fauci went on to wax poetic about the dangers of “misinformation,” though perhaps cognizant of Minaj’s penchant for getting into social media spats with prominent figures, was loathe to point fingers, calling Minaj’s tweet “innocent on her part.”
“There’s a lot of misinformation, mostly on social media, and the only way we know to counter mis- and dis-information is to provide a lot of correct information,” he said. “And to essentially debunk these kinds of claims, which may be innocent on her part. I’m not blaming her for anything but she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis.”
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its most updated information page on vaccinations that there is ‘currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men,'” NBC News added.
As The Daily Wire reported Tuesday, MSNBC host Joy Reid was not so diplomatic.
“You have 22 million followers on Twitter. For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives, my God, sister, you can do better than that,” Reid told Minaj.