Right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan thinks “Pfizer alone” may have killed off more people than World War I, World War II, and Vietnam.
Rogan said “a conservative range of 470,000 to 600,000” Americans may have died as a result of Pfizer’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.
“That’s a lot of people, man, more than World War I, World War II, and Vietnam combined,” he said during a sit-down on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast with NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Thursday, then hedged, “If that’s true.”
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Rogan was presumably referring to American military deaths during those wars, which come in at around 600,000 people, as opposed to all deaths across the three conflicts.
“But they saved millions,” Rodgers shot back.
“Yeah, I keep hearing that,” Rogan replied on Thursday’s edition of the show.
Rogan has repeatedly come under fire for pushing vaccine scepticism and other conspiracy theories via his podcast, which has racked up almost six billion views on YouTube since it was first launched in 2009.
In September 2021, the commentator drew controversy for publicly discussing his use of ivermectin, a deworming drug designed for livestock, as part of his treatment regimen after he tested positive for COVID-19.
The remarks prompted an open letter in January 2022 from more than 270 medical professionals and research scientists who accused Rogan of “broadcasting misinformation” about the pandemic, in turn followed by a boycott by music artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, of Spotify for hosting Rogan’s podcast.
The World Health Organization states in its most recent guidance on vaccine safety that “billions of people have been safely vaccinated against COVID-19” and that “all of the approved COVID-19 vaccines have been carefully tested and continue to be monitored.”
