Joe Rogan Wonders If People Should Get Vaxxed, Then Contract COVID by Hanging Out With a ‘Bunch of Dirty People’

Joe Rogan, a self-described “fucking moron,” had neurosurgeon and CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta on his Spotify-hosted podcast this week. As expected, the three-hour discussion included a great deal of back-and-forth about the COVID-19 vaccine, which—as a general reminder here—is indeed safe and effective.

At one point in the interview, which Gupta later described as featuring Rogan doing “mental gymnastics,” the comedian was asked if he wished he had been vaccinated due to “what you know now” following an infection of his own. 

“I got through COVID pretty quickly,” Rogan said. “My thought was I’m a healthy person, I exercise constantly, I’m always taking vitamins, I take care of myself. I felt like I was gonna be OK and that was true. It was correct. I’m happy I got through it. I don’t wish it upon anyone. It wasn’t fun but it wasn’t the worst cold I’ve ever had and I got over it fairly quickly, relatively speaking.”

Pushing back with a plea for a more disciplined nuance surrounding the conversation, Gupta strongly advised against this approach.

“It’s not a strategy to recommend that people get infected to get their immunity,” he said, to which Rogan responded by saying he was not recommending that “anybody get infected.” Instead, Rogan revisited past comments he’s made about vaccines by again making the “vulnerable” argument, this time specifically mentioning “older people” and “fat people.”