Joe Rogan questions whether COVID-19 vaccines truly helped prevent the disease or caused more harm

Joe Rogan and COVID-19 in the same sentence don't mesh well, historically speaking. The popular podcaster has been the center of much controversy during the pandemic, due to his claims of using alternative medications to treat COVID-19. He also had a few divisive opinions regarding the pandemic and the subsequent vaccines that put an end to it.

These opinions were revisited in a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), featuring television personality and fitness expert Jillian Michaels.

Michaels is famous for being one of the coaches in the first season of the hit reality TV series, 'The Biggest Loser.'

Rogan shared his thoughts on COVID-19 vaccines and said:

"[Imitating people saying] 'The vaccine saved millions of lives!' People say that all the time. They've saved millions of lives. Like, how? If people still got COVID? Not only that, they got more COVID than people that didn't get vaccinated."

Michaels then added that she's had a debate with her mother recently, who pointed out that a simple Google search would show you data that supports the claim that the vaccines saved millions. Rogan replied:

"It's only based on the idea that those people would have died if they didn't have COVID. But the problem is you're going to get COVID anyway. So the that data is bullsh*t. Not only that, even when people got COVID, 99.07 of those f*ckers lived."

Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (8:17):

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When Joe Rogan said that COVID-19 "wasn't as bad as we thought"

Back in late 2024, Joe Rogan questioned billionaire tech mogul Bill Gates and other prominent individuals' choice to heavily promote the use of vaccines during the pandemic. In an episode of JRE featuring YouTubers and prominent researchers Jimmy Corsetti and Dan Richards, the podcaster threw shade at Gates' actions before and after the vaccines rolled out.

Joe Rogan said:

"Bill Gates, who's on television telling everybody, get the vaccine. You won't get COVID. And then afterward, that didn't work after he had unloaded all of his stock... It turns out COVID wasn't as bad as we thought it was. Well, you guys are really responsible for a bunch of people taking a medication that was unproven."

He further claimed that the fearmongering during the pandemic led to far-reaching damage to the economy and political climate of America.

"You're responsible for all the side effects. You're responsible for all these, and you're responsible for fearmongering, lying, closing down businesses, there ruining economies, changing the political structure of the country."

Listen to Rogan here (1:50:00)