Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said in a recent podcast with Joe Rogan that he experienced serious side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine.
Vance in the interview confirmed to Rogan that he “took the vax” but has not “been boosted or anything.”
“The moment where I really started to get red-pilled on the whole vax thing was, the sickest that I’ve been in the last 15 years, by far, was when I took the vaccine,” Vance said.
Describing what happened, Vance said that he “was in bed for two days. My heart was racing … The fact that we’re not even allowed to talk about that … I was as sick as I’ve ever been for two days and the worst COVID experience I had was like a sinus infection—I’m not really willing to trade that.”
Rogan, who has often questioned the COVID-19 vaccines on his popular show, shared Vance’s sentiments.
“You’re not allowed to question it. You’re not allowed to discuss it,” Rogan said.
Rogan later said that there have been people “who have been vaccine injured, particularly people on the left” who are “very reluctant to discuss it” and scared of being identified as anti-vaccine.
Vance then said that an unnamed senator has also suffered side effects from the shot.
“I have a Senate colleague who doesn’t want to talk about it but worries that it’s permanently affected his sense of balance, dizziness, and vertigo, and it happens,” Vance said in response. “I’ve talked to a number of people who think that they got vaccine injured. Some of them are public about it, and some of them are not.”
Vance did not disclose which brand of vaccine he received or when he received it. The Epoch Times could not independently confirm the identity and experience of the senator Vance said was suffering from a vaccine-related side-effect.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has continued to recommend that Americans get the vaccine.
“Data continues to confirm the importance of vaccination to protect those most at risk for severe outcomes of COVID-19,” the agency said in a recent news release, issued on Oct. 23.
It said that receiving updated booster shots “can restore and enhance protection against the virus variants currently responsible for most infections and hospitalizations” in the United States. The shots, the CDC said, can also reduce the “chance of suffering the effects of Long COVID, which can develop during or following acute infection and last for an extended duration.”
In the Oct. 23 statement, the CDC recommended that Americans aged 65 and older and those with compromised immune systems get a second dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer have also said their mRNA-based vaccines are effective and safe to use, and that the two companies’ clinical data was reviewed by federal health agencies and confirms their claims. Novavax, which makes a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, has also said its vaccine is safe and effective for the virus.
Side effects from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to the CDC, include pain, soreness, and redness at injection site, as well as fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, chills, and fever. Another Moderna shot side effect includes nausea and vomiting, according to the agency.
Some people may experience myocarditis or pericarditis, two types of heart inflammation, as serious side effects related to the vaccine, the agency said. Some may also experience “rare events,” including Guillain-Barre Syndrome, it says.
Novavax shot side effects include pain, soreness, redness, and swelling at injection site, along with fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, chills, fever, and nausea or vomiting.
Earlier this year, former President Donald Trump and Vance gained the support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who founded Children’s Health Defense, a group concerned about vaccine injuries, and had previously campaigned for the 2024 presidential race before withdrawing. Trump has said on multiple occasions that he would like to have Kennedy play a role in his administration if he is elected, while Kennedy has simultaneously called for policy changes to “make America healthy again.”
Before talking with Vance, Rogan also interviewed Trump last week, where the two spoke on a range of topics. The podcast host said that he also extended an invitation to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has not agreed to go on Rogan’s show.