After Nicki Minaj took to Twitter on Monday night and shared false claims about COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC and doctors have debunked her theories.
While the Met Gala on Monday night was fashion’s biggest night, mere hours before the event began, all eyes were on Minaj who began tweeting about not attending and spreading misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Minaj tweeted about the Met Gala and their vaccination requirement about an hour after revealing she would not be attending, theGrio previously reported.
She wrote to her 22 million Twitter followers, “They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. 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.”
Minaj continued to tweet about the vaccine on Monday evening, eventually detailing a story about her cousin’s friend who got the vaccine, which also got a lot of attention. She wrote, “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. 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.”
Now, after people like Joy Reid called her out publicly, certified medical professionals are responding directly to Minaj’s tweets to clarify and debunk her theories.
Ashley Winter, MD, a board-certified urologist, wrote in a response to Minaj, “I AM A BOARD CERTIFIED UROLOGIST. The vaccine does not cause orchitis (ie swollen balls). Something else caused that. Tons of data that getting COVID does effect semen parameters and might lead to infertility. Vaccines prevent COVID! Misinformation kills.”
Another urologist, Rena Malik, MD, then responded as well, writing, “I second this as a board certified urologist and the actual COVID 19 infection has been linked to erectile dysfunction learn about the data before you tweet damaging information.”
Ushé Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, wrote in a tweet to Minaj, “Nicki, I’d love to talk to you about the COVID vaccine. Impotence is significantly more likely from COVID and there have been no documented cases of impotence associated with the COVID vaccine.”
The CDC has previously debunked the false theories surrounding correlations between fertility issues in men and women and the COVID-19 vaccines. They tweeted out on Sept. 9, “You should get vaccinated against #COVID19 if you’re trying to get pregnant now or in the future. No evidence to date shows that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, can cause fertility problems in men or women.”
Check out the full tweet thread of the CDC debunking common COVID-19 vaccine myths below:
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