Post : Is Joe Rogan Anti-Vaccine?
URL : [link removed]
Posted : September 20, 2020 at 5:34 pm
Author : Vincent Iannelli, MD
Categories : Vaxopedia

Why would anyone think that Joe Rogan is anti-vaccine?

[link removed] Someone talking about vaccines to millions of people should really make sure they are getting things right.

After all, he has actually gone out of his way to say that he is not anti-vaccine!

Is Joe Rogan Anti-Vaccine?

Of course, Jenny McCarthy ( [link removed] ) has also repeatedly said that she is not anti-vaccine...

[link removed] Do you believe that Jenny McCarthy is not anti-vaccine?

In fact, few people actually come out and say that they are anti-vaccine, despite all evidence to the contrary.

> "In our email exchange before the show, I suggested (and Joe agreed) that a good icebreaker to conversation would be my 2008 inclusion of him in Skeptoid #125 "Ten Most Wanted: Celebrities Who Promote Harmful Pseudoscience". In the science and skepticism communities, Joe has long had a reputation as a publicizer of conspiracy theories, illustrated nowhere better than his infamous debate with astronomer Phil Plait on whether or not the Apollo moon landings were hoaxed. I'd heard that Joe had since moved away from his position on the moon landings, and he did a great job contending Roseanne Barr's chemtrail beliefs, so I wanted to correct the record wherever necessary."
>
> Why I Left Joe Rogan on My List of Celebrities Promoting Pseudoscience

So has Joe Rogan said anything that might make us think that he is anti-vaccine?

Does he push any of the common myths ( [link removed] ) and misinformation ( [link removed] ) about vaccines that scare parents ( [link removed] ) away from vaccinating and protecting their kids? Misinformation about vaccines that has already been refuted a thousand times ( [link removed] ) ?

Let's see.

[link removed] Do you think Joe Rogan is anti-vaccine?

Does he push an association between vaccines and autism ( [link removed] ) ?

[link removed] Needless to say, an association between vaccines and autism has not been proven in court. The Kennedy ( [link removed] ) article Rogan tweeted to his millions of followers is talking about Bailey Banks ( [link removed] ) , who did not have autism.

Yup.

Does he push conspiracy theories that folks are covering up vaccine injuries ( [link removed] ) ?

[link removed] Who is spending all of this money denying this damage that Rogan claims vaccines do?

Check.

Does he try and scare people with statistics about the Vaccine Court ( [link removed] ) ?

[link removed] When talking about Vaccine Court awards ( [link removed] ) , it is important to include statistics about the billions of doses of vaccines that have been given during the time since they started compensating vaccine injury petitions ( [link removed] ) .

Yes.

Does he spread conspiracy theories ( [link removed] ) that make vaccines seem dangerous?

[link removed] This "story" about the H1N1 vaccine wasn't true.

No doubt.

> "While it’s true that a Navy vessel was prevented from deploying because of a flu outbreak, that had nothing to do with the vaccine, which hadn’t been developed at the time. And there were no deaths aboard the ship, as some e-mails claim."
>
> Inoculation Misinformation

On the other hand, Joe Rogan has interviewed some folks who are as far from anti-vaccine as you can get...

[link removed] Peter Hotez recently spent two hours talking to Joe Rogan about vaccines and autism on his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience.

Has he learned anything from them?

[link removed] Why haven't more experts pushed back on Joe Rogan's "pro-science ( [link removed] ) " perspective?

I sure hope so, as celebrities have a lot of influence on whether or not people get vaccinated ( [link removed] ) and vaccinate and protect their kids. Especially when those celebrities push misinformation and propaganda ( [link removed] ) about vaccines.

Surprisingly, Joe Rogan actually seems to have a very good understanding of what is happening in the modern anti-vaccine movement ( [link removed] ) .

> "The problem is these echo chambers where people get involved online that magnify all of these beliefs and you get radicalized. I mean I've seen it. People get involved in these Facebook groups. These anti-vax Facebook groups or you know, all sorts of different things. I mean that's how these Flat Earth people get going. They start listening only to people that are involved in this circle. They don't have a greater understanding of the science involved..."
>
> Joe Rogan Experience #1274 w/Nicholas Christakis ( [link removed] )

But not necessarily a good understanding of the risks of vaccines ( [link removed] ) ...

> "If it's one out of a million and you have three hundred million people, then you have 3 million... you know. One million people with an issue is a big deal. Right, with three hundred million people you easily could have three hundred really big cases. Three hundred cases where people died from vaccines and then you bring those in front of people and you say Oh my God. And then there's this one and this one and this one. And there's two hundred and ninety eight more. And you're like Holy shit! All these people are dying from vaccines. It doesn't feel good if it's your child."
>
> Joe Rogan Experience #1274 w/Nicholas Christakis ( [link removed] )

Even though he corrected his math (where did he get 3 million???), he is still wrong about the number of vaccine deaths ( [link removed] ) .

> “In a review of reports of death following vaccination submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) from the early 1990s, the Institute of Medicine concluded that most were coincidental, not causally associated.”
>
> Moro et al on Deaths Reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, United States, 1997–2013

Although there are some severe vaccine reactions ( [link removed] ) that occur in the one in a million range, they are not usually life-threatening.

In fact, vaccine deaths are extremely rare.

[link removed] While trying to defend Bill Gates ( [link removed] ) and his vaccine initiatives, Joe Rogan ending up claiming the HPV vaccines ( [link removed] ) are dangerous and have a high number of adverse reactions ( [link removed] ) . They don't.

Still, while Joe Rogan doesn't get everything right about vaccines, he has come an awful long way over the years.

In 2014 he was talking about vaccines and autism, asking why it was okay to "just shoot chemicals in and assume that everyone is going to have a uniform reaction."

> "You don't want to bring back smallpox. You don't want your child to get measles. Babies can get measles when they can't even be vaccinated for it. This is one of the reasons we need to vaccinate children to make sure they don't get measles."
>
> Joe Rogan Experience #1274 w/Nicholas Christakis ( [link removed] )

And he is now interviewing experts like Nicholas Christakis, Michael Osterholm ( [link removed] ) , and Peter Hotez ( [link removed] ) , etc., and telling folks they need to get vaccinated.

Let's hope more of it starts to sink in.

More on Anti-Vaccine Celebrities

* I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in Flu Shots ( [link removed] )
* I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in the HPV Vaccine ( [link removed] )
* What Makes Someone Anti-Vaccine? ( [link removed] )
* How Do Anti-Vaccine Folks Think? ( [link removed] )
* Making Sense of Anti-Vaccine Arguments ( [link removed] )
* Decoding Anti-Vaccine Protests ( [link removed] )
* What Are the Greatest Tricks Anti-Vaccine Folks Use to Persuade Parents to Skip Vaccines? ( [link removed] )
* More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic ( [link removed] )
* The Joe Rogan Experience ( [link removed] )
* Why I Left Joe Rogan on My List of Celebrities Promoting Pseudoscience ( [link removed] )
* On the Bookshelf — Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information, by Dr. Paul Offit ( [link removed] )
* Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism ( [link removed] )
* Vaccine Denial: Failure Mode Analysis ( [link removed] )
* The annals of “I’m not anti-vaccine,” part 13: Nobody wants to admit to being “antivaccine” ( [link removed] )
* The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 25: We’re not antivaccine, we just publish posts about stopping the “Vaccine Holocaust” ( [link removed] )
* Not anti-vaccine, except when he is anti-vaccine ( [link removed] )
* The incredible shrinking vaccine-autism hypothesis shrinks some more ( [link removed] )
* Inoculation Misinformation ( [link removed] )
* Deaths Reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, United States, 1997-2013. ( [link removed] )
* Celebrities Have Influence on Vaccination ( [link removed] )
* People don’t go to doctors to be entertained. Why do they turn to celebrities for health advice? ( [link removed] )
* Anti-Vaccine Decision-Making and Measles Resurgence in the United States ( [link removed] )
* Well, Here's Jessica Biel Apparently Lobbying California Lawmakers Alongside Anti-Vaccine Activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ( [link removed] )
* Jessica Biel steps into vaccine debate as other celebrities fear the ‘anti-vax’ label ( [link removed] )
* Restoring trust in vaccines ( [link removed] )
* Combating vaccine hesitancy and other 21st century social determinants in the global fight against measles ( [link removed] )

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