Topline
An ongoing Twitter debate over vaccine misinformation between podcaster Joe Rogan and scientist Peter Hotez has led a number of individuals—including billionaires Bill Ackman and Elon Musk—to urge Hotez to debate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in an online spat that purportedly led anti-vaxxers to show up at Hotez’s home to “stalk” him.
Vaccine scientist Peter Hotez says anti-vaxxers showed up at his Texas home in the aftermath of the … [+]
Key Facts
The conflict started Saturday, after Hotez tweeted a Vice article that was critical of an interview Rogan did with Kennedy on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, in which Kennedy presented false claims about vaccines—including links to autism that most experts have discredited—which Hotez described as “nonsense.”
Rogan responded to Hotez’s criticism by inviting the vaccine scientist onto his podcast to debate Kennedy and pledging $100,000 to charity if Hotez agreed.
Billionaire Bill Ackman then pledged an additional $150,000 if Hotez agreed to the debate, which led to other public figures and vaccine skeptics to make similar pledges, bringing the total charitable pledges up to at least $600,000.
Hotez—who has previously appeared on Rogan’s show—agreed to go on Rogan’s podcast “to clear the air,” but in separate tweets Hotez said he wanted to discuss getting more people vaccines and vaccine misinformation—an offer that Rogan didn’t see as a response to his request for Hotez to debate Kennedy.
The scientist has also retweeted several people who chided the idea of debating Kennedy, including one who called the suggestion “absurd” since Kennedy—who is well-known for his vaccine skepticism—is a “crank.”
Hotez told his Twitter followers Sunday that the Houston resident “was stalked in front of my home by a couple of antivaxers taunting me to debate RFKJr”—less than 24 hours after the initial Twitter argument began.
Minutes later, a Twitter personality posted a video that appeared to show himself and another person shouting questions at Hotez outside a home, asking why Hotez wasn’t going to debate Kennedy and if the vaccine scientist believes “vaccine injuries” are real (it’s unclear whether the video corresponds to the incident Hotez mentioned).
Surprising Fact
Twitter owner Elon Musk was also among the choir of people defending Rogan’s request on Twitter. At one point, Musk suggested Hotez “hates charity” in an attempt to push Hotez to agree to Rogan’s terms.
Key Background
A Kennedy family scion and longshot 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kennedy has repeated dubious claims about vaccines for years, a tendency that has continued during the pandemic. During a three-hour appearance on Rogan’s podcast Thursday, Kennedy reiterated a number of his controversial claims about Covid-19 and vaccines. Kennedy falsely tied vaccines to autism, despite extensive evidence to the contrary: “Everybody will say, ‘There’s just no study that shows autism and vaccines are connected.’ That’s just crazy. That’s people who are not looking at science.” This is not Kennedy’s first time spreading anti-vaccine claims; he was previously banned from Instagram for spreading the same claim that vaccines were linked to autism and for comparing Covid lockdowns to Nazi Germany. But Meta reinstated his account after Kennedy announced his presidential bid. Kennedy’s podcast appearance is also not the first time Rogan has repeated or played host to false or dubious health claims. He made headlines throughout the pandemic for falsely claiming on his podcast that mRNA vaccines are gene therapy, that the risk for myocarditis—a heart muscle inflammation—is higher from vaccines than from Covid and that young, healthy people do not need a Covid vaccine.
Contra
Hotez—a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine—spent much of the pandemic on Twitter debunking misinformation surrounding Covid-19. Hotez was also part of the team that received a Nobel Prize nomination for their work to create a cheap and easy-to-make Covid-19 vaccine. This weekend’s Twitter disagreement is certainly not his first, but may be his most publicized rebuking of medical misinformation. In a separate tweet amid the debate Saturday, Hotez pointed to the number of lives lost due to “antivaccine disinformation,” and said has “nothing personal vs Joe, Elon, RFK Jr.” but is “hoping to halt more destruction.”
Further Reading
Joe Rogan’s Covid Claims: What Does The Science Actually Say? (The Guardian)
From Obscurity To A Nobel Prize Nomination: Houston Scientists Acclaimed For Their Patent-Free COVID-19 Vaccine (Texas Tribune)
Instagram Lifts Ban On Anti-Vaccine Activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. After Launch Of Presidential Bid (CNN)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/18/vaccine-scientist-peter-hotez-says-he-was-stalked-after-billionaires-and-joe-rogan-urge-him-to-debate-rfk-jr/