Nicki Minaj slammed over 'swollen testicles' vaccine claims

Health officials in Trinidad and Tobago have accused Nicki Minaj of wasting their time after they were forced to check claims she made about the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The Trinidadian-born rapper caused an uproar online when she made shocking claims about the side effects her cousin's friend suffered as a result of the vaccine. 

"My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. 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," she tweeted. 

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Nicki made the comments while sharing some of the reasons why she decided not to attend the 2021 Met Gala. 

She revealed that as the mom of a young son, she did not want to risk getting COVID-19 at any events. The 38-year-old also revealed that she is not vaccinated. 

"They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. If I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one," she wrote. 

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Health experts have slammed Nicki's comments about the COVID-19 vaccine. Trinidad and Tobago's health minister,  Terrence Deyalsingh,  says her story about her cousin's friend is false. 

"One of the reasons why we could not respond yesterday in real-time to Miss Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false. Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim," he said during a briefing.

Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, has also shut down Nicki's claims. 

“There’s no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen,” he said during an interview with CNN. 

The doctor added that spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccine can do a lot of harm. 

"There’s a lot of misinformation, mostly on social media, and the only way we know to counter mis and disinformation is to provide a lot of correct information.

“And to essentially debunk these kinds of claims, which may be innocent on her part. I’m not blaming her for anything but she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis,” he said

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Main image courtesy of Instagram/@nickiminaj