If you’ve been online this week you know that a rapper’s cousin’s friend’s testicles has been in the news quite a bit. At least, you know, a lot more than you’d probably assume.
We’re now five days into the discourse about Nicki Minaj’s tweet about vaccine skepticism, and after an offer to clear things up from the White House you’d think any hesitancy to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus would be eased. Much like the swelling of testicles which, according to Minaj, a Trinidadian cousin claimed a friend experienced after getting a nuptials-ruining but potentially life-saving vaccine.
If Minaj and her anti-vax supporters aren’t swayed by some pretty standard ball-based logic, though, The Daily Show gave Trinidad’s health minister a platform to dispel the myth that getting the jab swells your balls enough that your fiancee will leave you for a person with more reasonably-sized genitals.
The segment, which you can watch above, does have a good amount of joking in it. As it should because, well, balls are funny and this is about as absurd as it gets. But about halfway through, Trevor Noah invited the Honorable Terrence Deyalsingh, Minister of Health for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, to clear up misinformation and elaborate on the press conference he had earlier in the week following Minaj’s tweet.
Deyalsingh said that the nation has administered more than 1 million doses of vaccine across its population of 1.4 million, and they’ve only had five cases with abnormal side effects. None of which, of course, are swollen testicles.
“The advantages of vaccination far, far outweigh the minuscule risk,” he said, stressing also that Minaj’s claims that you must be vaccinated to work in Trinidad were also false. The minister also made it clear that vaccines of all kinds are safe and effective.
“This is not new,” he continued, stressing vaccine safety. “What is new is social media trying to throw doubt on this vaccine.”
The full segment is certainly worth watching, especially if all of the words above are completely bewildering to you. Hopefully, everyone’s testicles remain at their normal size and weight and we can all get through this pandemic as healthy as possible moving forward.