Health officials in the UK and Trinidad refute “false claim” Covid blows cause swollen testicles

UK health officials in Trinidad have denied rapper Nicki Minaj’s “false statement” that her cousin’s friend’s testicles were swollen after she received the Covid-19 vaccine in her home town of Trinidad.

Terrence Deyalsingh, the health minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, said Minaj’s tweet late Monday to his more than 22 million followers sent the minister on a wild goose hunt trying to tracking down the poor man who said he became helpless and lost his fiancé on the side effects.

“Unfortunately we wasted so much time running away from this false claim,” Deyalsingh said. “As far as we know at this point in time, there have been no reports of any side effects or adverse events. And what was sad about this is that it wasted our time trying to follow through because we take all these claims into account. seriously, whether it’s social media, or mainstream media. ”

Deyalsingh said no case of testicular swelling has been reported after Covid vaccine strokes in Trinidad and that health officials were not aware of any case “elsewhere in the world.”

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean island, has completely vaccinated about 35% of its population, and registers an average of about 200 new Covid cases per day, according to Reuters. Several types of vaccines are used in the country, including those made by Sinopharm, Astrazeneca and Pfizer of China. It is unclear what vaccine Minaj’s cousin’s friend received.

The rapper’s comments have made waves around the world, attracting reactions to Twitter, from media figures, disgruntled fanatics and government health officials.

Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical officer, gave a “resonant no” to CNN when asked if one of the U.S.-approved vaccines affected fertility in men or women. “There’s no evidence of that happening, nor any mechanistic reason to imagine what would happen, so the answer to your question is no,” Fauci said.

UK health officials have criticized Minaj for contributing to a growing vaccination campaign that has stalled global efforts to immunize enough people to get the band’s immunity to the virus.

“There are a number of myths flying around that are just plain ridiculous,” said Chris Witty, the UK’s chief medical officer. “Some of which are clearly meant only to scare, which happens to be one of these. It’s false.”

Minaj also received a claim from a man who says his father had a blood clot in his left eye after receiving a Covid vaccine, became blind and ended up in hospital with Covid the same week. While some of the vaccines have been linked to a rare blood clotting condition, none of the reported blood clots have been in the eyes or have caused blindness. Minaj also said that a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die from Covid than people who are not vaccinated was “not true.”

Witty said repeating the claim will only give him more credence, “they don’t need it, they’re fake, to the point.”

He also said that some people know they “sell fakes” about the vaccine, and continue to do so anyway. “They’re going to be embarrassed, and I’m going to leave her,” Witty said.

Minaj responded to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, after saying he did not know much about her. Minaj posted a sarcastic voice note in a fake British accent on Twitter, saying she was a “big, big star” in the United States and joking that she was attending Oxford University with Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister died in 2013.

He also portrayed several television animators who criticized his tweets. She told The View’s former host, Meghan McCain of “eating s —” after McCain retweeted Minaj’s comments about the testicular swelling, saying, “That’s enough internet for today.” Minaj also called the famous British host Piers Morgan a “stupid piece of s —“, and said he should wear a “clown nose and big red shoes”, after he had called her “one of the more little madam ”she has ever met – an insult that Minaj has embraced by adding her to his Twitter biography. Minaj and Morgan first appeared in America’s Got Talent together in 2011, where Morgan said she ignored her children, a statement that Minaj denied.

They were not the only media figures to face Minaj’s wrath; he used a racial slur to accuse MSNBC host Ann Reid of being a liar and homophobe after Reid criticized his tweets. Minaj accused Reid and the rest of the “media” of twisting their words to serve the leaders of the white media.

“They get paid to do it,” he tweeted.

Despite the criticism, Minaj said she will probably be vaccinated because she has to go on tour. Some followers of Minaj have defended the singer, saying the open discussion of vaccine skepticism is a healthy way to eliminate misinformation in a public space.

Minaj retweeted another follower who said they received the vaccine and that they were not infected by Covid. “That’s the norm,” Minaj replies.