Comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan.
- Two White House officials criticized Joe Rogan on Wednesday over his recent vaccine comments.
- Rogan said healthy young people don't need the vaccine, even though they can still spread the virus.
- Hospitalizations among younger Americans have increased as older people have gotten the shot.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Podcast mogul Joe Rogan took heat from a pair of White House officials on Wednesday over his opinion that younger Americans shouldn't get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rogan, who makes $30 million annually from Spotify for his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience," speculated about whether the vaccine is worth it for young people on an episode of the show released Tuesday.
"But if you're like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I'll go no," Rogan said.
"If you're a healthy person, and you're exercising all the time, and you're young, and you're eating well, like, I don't think you need to worry about this."
Rogan said he is not against vaccines in general, though he didn't mention that hospitalizations and deaths among young people have been going up as older Americans have gotten the shot.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, lamented the celebrity's remarks in an interview on CNN Wednesday morning.
"So you have to put a little bit of societal responsibility in your choices, and that's why I disagree with Mr. Rogan, under that circumstance," Fauci said of Rogan's influence among his audience, which is mostly male with an average age of 24.
Kate Bedingfield, Biden's communications director, also criticized Rogan in an earlier interview Wednesday on CNN.
-Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) April 28, 2021
"I guess my first question would be, did Joe Rogan become a medical doctor while we weren't looking?" Bedingfield said.
"I'm not sure that taking scientific and medical advice from Joe Rogan is perhaps the most productive way for people to get their information," she added.