COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t cause symptoms in Nicki Minaj tweet
The claim: COVID-19 vaccine caused one man’s swollen testicles and impotence
Superstar rapper Nicki Minaj generated a dizzying amount of social media buzz after following up her announcement that she wouldn’t be getting vaccinated for the Met Gala with a personal story: A friend of her cousin in Trinidad developed swollen testicles and became impotent after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
“My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen,” the tweet, posted the evening of Sept. 13, read. “His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”
The tweet has tens of thousands of Twitter users wondering what really happened, including Tucker Carlson, who read the tweet to viewers just a few hours after it was posted and aired a callout to the subject of the tweet on Sept. 14.
The story was also shared to other social media platforms, including in several widespread Instagram posts.
More:Trinidad’s Health Minister shuts down Nicki Minaj’s vaccine claim: ‘No reported such side effect’
But if you’re hoping to avoid the mystery man’s fate, medical experts say you’re better off getting the shot than rejecting it.
While there’s no evidence that the vaccine causes those symptoms, several studies have found COVID-19 can infect tissue in the testicles and penis, and it may have caused several cases of decreased sperm count and erectile dysfunction.
However, as several doctors noted in the replies to Minaj’s tweet, this mystery person is likely dealing with a different condition.
“It’s very worrisome that something said in a tweet, with no ill intentions, can impact someone’s choice about getting vaccinated,” Raven Baxter, a molecular biologist who replied to Minaj’s tweet with a rap about how vaccines work, told USA TODAY in an email. “These vaccines are scientifically proven to be saving lives every day; the more people who get them, the better it is for all of us.”
Fact check:COVID-19 vaccine protects both the person vaccinated and those around them
USA TODAY reached out to Minaj and users who shared the tweet for comment.
No evidence that vaccine causes impotence or swollen testicles
The identity of the man Minaj tweeted about remains unknown, but Trinidad & Tobago’s health minister, Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh, said in a Sept. 15 news conference that no such case had been reported to his knowledge.
“What is sad about this is that it wasted our time yesterday trying to track this down,” he said.
Regardless, experts say the situation Minaj described is inconsistent with what we know after hundreds of millions of vaccines have been administered.
Scientists and medical professionals who have studied the COVID-19 vaccine in depth say that there is no evidence of a link between the vaccine and impotence or swollen testicles.
Physician of internal medicine Dr. Rodney Hood leads the National Medical Association’s COVID-19 Task Force and other groups aiming to provide trusted, independent reviews of the vaccines to Black and underrepresented communities. He called the suggestion that the vaccine causes the symptoms in Minaj’s tweet “a myth.”
“Millions of doses of vaccines have been given, and none of that has been reported as a potential side effect caused by the vaccine,” he said.
Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Immunization Safety Office, also told USA TODAY that scientists haven’t found any evidence linking the symptoms in Minaj’s tweet to the vaccine.
“There is no scientific evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause impotence and swollen testicles,” he wrote in an email. “COVID-19 vaccines save lives.”
More:Does COVID-19 vaccine cause infertility in men? Study shows mRNA vaccines do not decrease sperm count
A peer-reviewed study from the University of Miami showed that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do not affect sperm count, USA TODAY reported in June.
“Swollen testicles and male infertility are definitely not potential or known side effects of any of the three COVID-19 vaccines that the FDA has authorized for emergency use in the USA,” Dr. Matthew Laurens, an infectious disease specialist and vaccine researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, wrote in an email to USA TODAY. “In fact, there is no evidence that any vaccine causes male fertility issues.”
Fact check:A false post on social media claims COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility in women
COVID-19 can cause erectile dysfunction, infect testes
So the vaccine has no link to infertility. But the virus it’s helping prevent may, according to preliminary studies noted by Laurens and Hood.
“The vaccine will actually prevent you from getting a lot of the things that people are concerned with,” Hood said. “To me, there (is more evidence of) complications and (sexual function) problems even after you get over the acute phase of COVID than any evidence that we have from the vaccine.”
One study conducted this May at the University of Miami found that even men with mild COVID-19 symptoms could develop erectile dysfunction.
According to the study, otherwise healthy men developed impotency after COVID-19 infection made its way into their penile tissue. The scientists examined the tissue in two men who were undergoing penile prosthesis surgeries.
One of the men in the study had been hospitalized for COVID-19, but the other had experienced only mild symptoms, researchers said.
As for testicular conditions, three different studies cited by Hood and Laurens have shown COVID-19 can infect the testes. That has the potential to negatively impact fertility, according to a report on one conducted at the University of Miami.
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Another study found decreased sperm counts in men who were infected with the virus, Laurens noted.
However, he said existing evidence on the link between COVID-19 and male infertility isn’t yet conclusive.
“There is preliminary evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can affect semen volume, sperm concentration and the number of spermatozoa,” Laurens wrote. “Whether or not this translates into males who have COVID-19 experiencing fertility issues in the short or long-term is not yet known.”
Our rating: Missing context
We rate the claim that the COVID-19 vaccine caused one man’s swollen testicles and impotence MISSING CONTEXT, based on our research. Without knowing the specifics of the case Minaj described, it’s not possible to know for sure what caused the symptoms. However, medical experts say there have been no reports linking the vaccine to swollen testicles and impotence.
Our fact-check sources:
- Rodney Hood, Sept. 14, phone interview with USA TODAY
- Tom Shimabukuro, Sept. 14, email correspondence with USA TODAY
- Matthew Laurens, Sept. 15, email interview with USA TODAY
- Raven Baxter, Sept. 13, Tweet
- Raven Baxter, Sept. 14, email correspondence
- Stat News, Sept. 21, 2020, Not trusting the FDA, Black doctors’ group creates panel to vet Covid-19 vaccines
- Nicki Minaj, Sept. 13, Tweet at 5:44 PM
- JAMA Network, June 17, Sperm Parameters Before and After COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination
- USA TODAY, June 21, Does COVID-19 vaccine cause infertility in men? Study shows mRNA vaccines do not decrease sperm count
- University of Miami InventUM, May 11, Researchers Report COVID-19 Found in Penile Tissue Could Contribute to Erectile Dysfunction
- The World Journal of Men’s Health, May 7, COVID-19 Endothelial Dysfunction Can Cause Erectile Dysfunction: Histopathological, Immunohistochemical, and Ultrastructural Study of the Human Penis
- The World Journal of Men’s Health, Nov. 3, 2020, Histopathology and Ultrastructural Findings of Fatal COVID-19 Infections on Testis
- University of Miami InventUM , Nov. 5, 2020, COVID-19 Can Infect Testes with Potential Implications for Male Fertility
- Andrologia, May 2021, Radiological patterns of incidental epididymitis in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients revealed by colour Doppler ultrasound
- Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Nov. 11, 2020, Ultrasound Imaging Findings of Acute Testicular Infection in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Single-Center-Based Study in Wuhan, China
- Reproduction journal, March 2021, COVID-19 and male reproductive function: a prospective, longitudinal cohort study
- Kevz Politics, Sept. 15, Tweet
Contributing: Miriam Fauzia
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