When addressing the comedian's statement, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci argues that the former's advice was dangerous.

• Apr 30, 2021

AceShowbiz - Joe Rogan has clarified his recent comment regarding COVID-19 vaccine. Having landed in hot water after suggesting young healthy people to skip the shot, "The Joe Rogan Experience" host insisted that he isn't "anti-vax."

"I am not an anti-vax person. In fact, I said I believe they are safe and I encourage many people to take them. I just said if you're a young healthy person, you don't need it. Their argument was you need it for other people," the 53-year-old stated in the Thursday, April 29 episode of his podcast. "But that's a different conversation."

Joe went on to blame "click bait" by media outlets for making the situation worse. He further noted, "I am not a doctor. I am a f**king moron. I am a cage-fighting commentator... I am not a respected source of information even for me. But I at least try to be honest about what I am saying."

The clarification came nearly a week after Joe claimed that young people did not necessarily need to take the coronavirus vaccine. "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. But if you're like 21 years old, and you say to me, 'Should I get vaccinated?' I'll go no, " he pointed out at that time.

"Look, don't do anything stupid, but you should take care of yourself," the UFC commentator continued. "You should -- If you're a healthy person, and you're exercising all the time, and you're young, and you're eating well, like, I don't think you need to worry about this."

Joe has since sparked backlash on Twitter. While many of social media users called him "stupid," an individual told him to "shut up about telling others not to get the vaccine [because] it is harmful."

Also addressing the comedian's statement was Dr. Anthony Fauci. When appearing on "Today" show, he said, "You're talking about yourself in a vacuum... 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."

"And even if you don't have any symptoms, you're propagating the outbreak," the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases added. "Because it is likely that you -- even if you have no symptoms -- that you may inadvertently and innocently then infect someone else... who could have a problem with a severe outcome."

"So if you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that's OK," he concluded. "But if you're saying to yourself, 'Even if I get infected, I could do damage to someone else even if I don't have any symptoms at all,' that's the reason you have to be careful and get vaccinated."