Nicki Minaj’s vaccine claims debunked by Trinidad health minister

Photo credit: peterschreiber.media

It looks like Dr. Anthony Fauci isn’t the only official who is refuting Nicki Minaj‘s recent comments regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Trinidad and Tobago health minister Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh is, too. 

Earlier this week, Nicki, who was born in Trinidad, shared with fans that one of the reasons she did not attend the Met Gala was because attendees had to be vaccinated, and she was not. In a later tweet, she claimed that a friend of a family member who received the vaccine became impotent afterward. 

The claim sparked much controversy and prompted Deyalsingh to investigate the claim, which he debunked in a video shared on Twitter Wednesday. 

“Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim,” he says in the clip. “As we stand now, there is absolutely no reported such side effect or adverse event of testicular swelling in Trinidad or, I dare say … anywhere else in the world.”

The media storm surrounding the “Anaconda” rapper’s tweets even attracted the attention of the White House, with officials offering to chat with Nicki about the vaccine’s effectiveness. There were also rumors that Twitter had suspended Nicki’s account, presumably for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. However, a Twitter spokesperson told ABC News, “Twitter did not take any enforcement action on the account referenced.” And Nicki’s account is still active as of Friday morning.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.