Dr. Anthony Fauci and Trinidad and Tobago's health minister have both responded to Nicki Minaj's strange tweet linking COVID-19 vaccines to reproductive health issues.
The singer tweeted on Monday regarding the Met Gala's requirement that attendees be COVID-vaccinated in order to attend. Then she posted a bizarre personal experience that went viral almost immediately.
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 — Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021
When asked about the claim during a CNN interview on Tuesday, Fauci dismissed it as false, saying there is no evidence that it occurs and that "there is no mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen."
Following that, Fauci discussed the consequences of vaccine misinformation.
Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh, the health minister of Trinidad and Tobago, spoke publicly later in the week about how the country investigated Minaj's cousin's claim and found it to be false.
"Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim," Deyalsingh said in a video shared on Twitter on Wednesday.
"As we stand now, there is absolutely no reported such side effect or adverse event of testicular swelling in Trinidad or, I dare say ... anywhere else in the world."
Minaj's post "did not help," according to Deyalsingh, and made their job more difficult because the rapper has "some sway."
In a series of tweets explaining why she skipped this year's Met Gala, the rapper made the unfounded claim on Monday. The rapper, who claimed to have tested positive for COVID herself, told fans in one post that she didn't want to jeopardize her baby's health.
Minaj also retweeted a man's claim that his father developed a blood clot in his left eye after receiving the COVID vaccine, went blind, and ended up in the hospital with the virus the same week.
While some vaccines have been linked to a rare blood clotting condition, none of the blood clots that have been reported have occurred in the eyes or resulted in blindness.
Despite the backlash, Minaj stated that she will most likely get vaccinated in order to go on tour. Some of Minaj's fans defended her, claiming that a public discussion about vaccine skepticism is a constructive approach to filter out misinformation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's most recent vaccination information page, there is "currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men."
