Joe Rogan Claims President Biden May Have Faked Live Covid-19 Booster Vaccination

Which Joe are you going to believe? The Joe who is U.S. President and on Wednesday appeared on live TV to get the Covid-19 booster vaccination? Or the Joe who hosts on a Spotify podcast called “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and on Thursday’s episode questioned whether the President actually got the booster?

Remember Joe Rogan is the person who said earlier this year, “I’m not a doctor, I’m a (bleeping) moron. I’m not a respected source of information, even for me.” Yet, Rogan has continued to talk about the Covid-19 vaccine quite often during his podcasts. This time during an exchange with his guest, Mike Baker, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, he suggested that U.S. President Joe Biden may have faked the televised Covid-19 booster shot. The following tweet featured a video showing the exchange:

This isn’t the first time Rogan has said controversial things about the Covid-19 vaccine on his podcast. For example, as I covered for Forbes in May, Rogan has said, “If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I’ll go no.” Rogan also has said that he took ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication, after testing positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus, even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against taking human or livestock ivermectin to treat Covid-19.

Baker isn’t a medical or public health expert either. But as you can see that didn’t keep both of them from speculating about the Covid-19 vaccine. Maybe Rogan will have a medical doctor on his show some day to talk about how the CIA operates.

Nevertheless, Baker segued into mentioning that Biden was wearing a face mask while getting a Covid-19 booster the day before. Then Rogan quickly interrupted like a kid who can’t wait while a birthday present is being opened with “do you think he got a booster. Do you think that was a real booster?”

Rather than pushing back against Rogan’s question, Baker described what Biden did as “performance art.” Performance art? Uh, Biden didn’t do an interpretive dance. He didn’t dress up like a baked good and sing, “muffin compares to you,” either. Instead, Biden was simply doing what’s been done over 393 million times already in the U.S. since late 2020: get a Covid-19 vaccination.

Rogan then continued by saying, “I don’t think they would take the chance. I think if they were gonna to give him a booster shot, the last thing they would do is give it to him live on television.” Take the chance? It’s not as if Biden was going bungee jumping or being fed some type of weird supplement, a sheep’s head, or ivermectin. They gave him a vaccine that’s already been tested and authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Over 185 million Americans have already been fully vaccinated. Without offering any real numbers or data, Rogan saying “take the chance” can make it sound like Biden was doing something that rarely had been done before.

“What if he dies,” Rogan added. “What if he blacks out? What if he like gets it and faints? Because people have had very bad reactions like in the moment for whatever reason.” Umm, severe reactions to the Covid-19 vaccine are quite rare. If any severe reaction is going to happen, the main possibility is anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction. Anaphylaxis has occurred in only about two to five of every million people vaccinated in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Even though food allergies are more common than such vaccine allergic reactions, you don’t see people saying don’t let the President eat a sandwich on live TV.

Plus, anaphylaxis is probably not going to occur without any warning the moment the vaccine is injected. The vaccine is not like putting a hot poker on your arm or a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter kicking you in the head. There will typically be at least a minute or more of time lag after the needle has left the skin before any symptoms emerge, which will give others the opportunity to administer you epinephrine.

In general, deaths have been very rare. From December 14, 2020, through September 27, 2021, there were only 8,164 reports of deaths, based on Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) numbers. The CDC calculates that as 0.0021% of all the people who received a Covid-19 vaccine. And, in many of these cases, it’s not completely clear whether the death was actually due to the Covid-19 vaccine. Just because something happens after you get the vaccine, doesn’t mean that it’s due to the vaccine. If you graduated from college or had sex after getting vaccinated, you can’t say that the vaccine is what gave you a diploma or an orgasm.

Again, Baker did not push back against Rogan’s assertion and instead said, “I agree, because every other step of the way with any President they are so careful, so careful about the messaging, the optics, the security issues related to. It would not be unheard of.”

Sure, the White House wouldn’t want to put the President in unnecessary danger. The problem is Rogan didn’t put the actual risk associated with vaccination in proper perspective. He didn’t really offer any actual numbers or data. You can say, “what if dies” or “what if he blacks out” about nearly anything. People have died and blacked out while using the toilet or giving speeches, hopefully not while doing both of those activities at the same time. Everything in life has some risk. If the White House wanted to completely avoid risk, they would not have the President go anywhere or do anything and instead stage everything.

Can you be 100% sure that the Biden’s vaccination wasn’t staged? Of course not. Anything that you see on TV or hear on a podcast could potentially be staged or a ruse. Does Rogan or other TV personalities really believe what they are saying or are they playing to their audience? You can never tell for sure. Similarly, you can’t rule out the possibility that Joe Rogan may actually be a gigantic rabbit that talks or that Mike Baker wasn’t really Rudolph Giuliani in an elaborate disguise. Maybe everything around you is a simulation or an illusion with the possible exception of your Peloton machine because a $2000 or so stationary bike had better be real.

Ultimately, such speculation about Biden’s booster vaccination is pointless and will only raise unfounded concerns and yet more conspiracy theories. Instead, look at the data and the people around you who have gotten the vaccine. Ask real medical and public health experts. And not some non-medical Joe.