DR. Anthony Fauci has slammed Joe Rogan for saying young healthy people don’t need the Covid-19 vaccine as “incorrect”, as they can “still infect”.
Podcast host Joe Rogan made the remarks during his popular Spotify program, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“People say, do you think it’s safe to get vaccinated? 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 like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I’ll go no.
“Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person?”
“If you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well,” he said, “like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”
Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, took issue with Rogan’s comments, telling NBC’s “Today Show” it was “incorrect” to say a healthy 21-year-old probably doesn’t need to get vaccinated.
According to reports from the Washington Times, Fauci pointed to the risk of transmission to others as a reason as to why everyone should get the jab.
“Even if you don’t have symptoms, you are propagating the outbreak because it is likely that you, even if you have no symptoms, that you may inadvertently and innocently then infect someone else who might infect someone who really could have a problem with a severe outcome,” the doctor said.
“So if you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that’s OK.”
“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.”
Extensive data shows that the Covid-19 vaccines available to Americans are highly effective at staving off the disease.
They almost certainly reduce transmission, based on data from Israel and other countries which have seen a reduction in cases alongside their vaccine rollouts.
Promising research published in the UK in February showed that just one Pfizer jab could slash Covid transmissions by 75 per cent.
A single dose of the vaccine cut the number of asymptomatic cases four-fold, scientists at the University of Cambridge found.
Teams looked at coronavirus tests from vaccinated and unvaccinated hospital workers over the course of two weeks – noticing dramatic results.
The study, not yet peer-reviewed, found 13 positive staff tests out of 3,535 less than 12 days after their jab.
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And only four positive tests out of 1,989 staff checked 12 days or more on from their vaccine.
This compared to 26 positive tests out of 3,252 tests from unvaccinated healthcare workers.
Dr Mike Weekes, an infectious disease specialist at CUH and the University of Cambridge’s Department of Medicine, who led the study, said: “This is great news – the Pfizer vaccine not only provides protection against becoming ill from SARS-CoV-2 but also helps prevent infection, reducing the potential for the virus to be passed on to others.”
