Rap artist Nicki Minaj reacts after tweeting inaccurate information about Covid vaccines

Nicki Minaj faced a public backlash on Tuesday after tweeting the day before that a friend of her cousin’s developed swollen testicles and impotence after being vaccinated against Covid-19.

In a series of tweets on Monday, the ten-time Grammy-nominated rap artist told fans she would be vaccinated only once she did enough research and advised them to wear masks and receive the shots. ‘they are required to work. Minaj skipped this year’s Met Gala, which enforced a vaccination mandate, saying she avoids public events, in general, because she has a new baby at home.

Minaj said she was shooting a video and that she was preparing for the Video Music Awards, which were aired on Sunday, when she took Covid earlier this year and had to put herself in quarantine away from her son for a week.

However, most people took their comments on their cousin’s friend, who many people criticized for spreading false information.

MSNBC national correspondent Joy Ann Reid criticized Minaj: “You have 22 million followers on Twitter. For you to use your platform to encourage our community not to protect themselves and save their lives, from God’s sister, you can do better than that. ”

Minaj flashed Reid on Twitter, sharing the news clip and using a racial slur to insult Reid, who is also black.

Doctors soon claimed that all that Minaj’s relative’s friend suffered was not known to have side effects from the blow.

“We’re all human, and we tend to associate things,” Dr. Arturo Casadevall, president of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNBC. He noted that swollen testicles and impotence are not side effects to the vaccine. “So often, things that aren’t related are associated, and to that person, that association is very strong. But that’s why we have science.”

Casadevall said the symptoms experienced by Minaj’s cousin’s friend were “almost certainly” unrelated to the vaccines, and the timing was just a coincidence.

Minaj skipped the Met Gala in New York City Monday night, which imposed a vaccination requirement on guests. She responded to a fan who said Minaj had not made a public appearance for more than a year, saying she avoided travel to protect the health of her infant son.

In a subsequent tweet, Minaj said she was “sure” she would eventually be vaccinated to go on tour. Attempts to reach Minaj’s representatives were unsuccessful.

Vaccine hesitation is common across the country, a recent CNBC / Change Research survey found, and it’s a major hurdle to gaining herd immunity that experts say is needed to curb future Covid peaks. in the United States. about the side effects of the vaccine, while another 34% said their suspicion of the federal government made them reluctant to vaccinate.

Casadevall said eliminating the wrong information because of conversations with the hesitant vaccine is essential to building public trust.

“These vaccines are extremely safe,” Casadevall said, noting that the risks of the side effects of vaccines are significantly lower than the health risks of the virus. “Covid, on the other hand, is deadly, unpredictable.”

And for anyone like Minaj looking for more research on available vaccines before planning an appointment to immunize, Casadevall suggested returning to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. of Food is a Drug for guidance.

“I don’t think about doing research on the Internet, or reading Twitter posts or anything like that, it’s research,” Casadevall said. “Research means you have a systematic way to look at the problem.”