Rapper’s vaccine tweet reveals struggles over misinformation
Medical experts say claims of infertility are not backed by science
Nicki Minaj sparked a social media storm Monday night after she tweeted about her cousin’s hesitancy to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, setting off a slew of critiques that she was spreading coronavirus misinformation.
Minaj tweeted that her cousin in Trinidad, where the singer and rapper is from, “won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen.”
Medical experts have said that claims about infertility linked to vaccinations are unsubstantiated.
“There are stories out there on the internet about how vaccination can lead to infertility. There’s absolutely nothing to that,” Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told the Washington Post earlier this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also underscored in advice in August that: “There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.”
In tweeting about her reasoning for missing Monday’s Met Gala in New York, Minaj implied that she had yet to be vaccinated — something the gala required — writing, “I’m sure I’ll b vaccinated as well cuz I have to go on tour.” She said it would happen “once I feel I’ve done enough research.”
The comments from the pop star come as the Biden administration has described the latest wave of coronavirus cases in the United States as “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Officials have encountered vaccine skepticism from some women of childbearing age and groups including some Black and Hispanic adults, who have historically faced disparities in health care.
Public health experts say widespread vaccine hesitancy increases the threat of the virus mutating and helps keep the pandemic raging.
MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid reacted to Minaj’s tweets, noting that they could increase hesitancy in the Black community. “For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives ...” she said, “as a fan, I am so sad that you did that.”
Minaj responded to the criticism by calling it a “false narrative.”
She encouraged her fans to “just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”