Joe Rogan retracted his comments on Thursday after receiving backlash online for suggesting young, healthy people shouldn't worry about getting the COVID-19 vaccination.
"I am not an anti-vax person," Rogan said on his popular Spotify podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience."
"In fact, I said I believe they are safe and I encourage many people to take them. I just said if you're a young healthy person, you don't need it. Their argument was you need it for other people. But that's a different conversation. And yes, that makes sense," he continued.
Rogan, 53, clarified, "I am not a doctor. I am a f***ing moron. I am a cage-fighting commentator... I am not a respected source of information even for me. But I at least try to be honest about what I am saying."
JOE ROGAN TELLS 'YOUNG AND HEALTHY' LISTENERS TO SKIP COVID VACCINE, IGNITES SOCIAL MEDIA FIRESTORM
The podcaster previously questioned why younger people who are in good shape need to get the vaccine.
"Are you a healthy person? Like, look, don't do anything stupid, but you should take care of yourself. You should — 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," he said.
Later, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, weighed in on Rogan's comments.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
"So if you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that's OK," Fauci said on the "TODAY" show. "But if you're saying to yourself, 'Even if I get infected, I could do damage to someone else even if I don't have any symptoms at all,' that's the reason you have to be careful and get vaccinated."
According to the CDC, over 237 million vaccines have been administered as of Friday in the United States and almost 100 million people are totally vaccinated.