# The Complete Joe Rogan Vaccine Episodes: 2020-2025

**The Joe Rogan Experience became the epicenter of America's vaccine debate during the pandemic**, featuring everyone from mRNA technology pioneers to vaccine skeptics to CNN's chief medical correspondent. This comprehensive list documents all episodes from 2020 through November 2025 where vaccines dominated the conversation, triggering artist boycotts, congressional responses, and a national reckoning with podcast misinformation.

The list reveals a stark evolution: Rogan began 2020 calling anti-vaxxers "whackos" before gradually shifting to platforming vaccine critics and ultimately, by 2025, endorsing books claiming vaccines never worked at all. These episodes collectively reached tens of millions of listeners during the most critical vaccination period in modern history, making them perhaps the most consequential vaccine discussions in podcast history.

## 2020: Pro-Vaccine Advocacy and Early Pandemic

### Episode #1439 - Dr. Michael Osterholm
**Date:** March 10, 2020
**Guest:** Infectious disease epidemiologist, Director of Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at University of Minnesota

**Vaccine Topics:** Early pandemic assessment, vaccine development timelines, anti-vaccine misinformation dangers, importance of vaccines in public health, realistic expectations for COVID vaccine development

**Key Points:** This episode marked Rogan at his most pro-vaccine. He told Osterholm: "I hope this wakes people up to the value of vaccines too, there's so many wackos out there that think that vaccines are a scam or dangerous." When Osterholm explained vaccines wouldn't arrive soon, Rogan emphasized vaccines' historical importance: "There's a reason why smallpox went away. It's because of vaccines." Osterholm predicted 480,000 US deaths, helping many realize COVID's severity. This became one of the first viral pandemic podcasts, signaling the crisis ahead.

### Episode #1451 - Dr. Peter Hotez
**Date:** April 2020
**Guest:** MD, PhD, Dean of National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Director of Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine development challenges and timeline, vaccine safety and efficacy expectations, why vaccines wouldn't be available until 2021, social distancing versus vaccination strategies, importance of vaccinating vulnerable populations

**Key Points:** Hotez provided expert perspective on vaccine development science during the pandemic's early months. He emphasized vaccines should be funded like fire departments—ready before emergencies strike. Discussed his team's work developing a low-cost COVID vaccine technology that eventually vaccinated over 100 million people in India and Indonesia at $2-3 per dose with no patent restrictions. Generally pro-vaccine discussion with rigorous scientific focus on realistic expectations.

### Episode #1566 - Dr. Nicholas Christakis
**Date:** December 2020
**Guest:** Yale sociologist and physician

**Vaccine Topics:** mRNA vaccine mechanisms and safety, 95% vaccine efficacy data, risk-benefit analysis comparing vaccine efficacy to COVID survival rates, future pandemic preparedness

**Key Points:** Christakis explained mRNA technology and discussed the remarkable 95% efficacy results from initial trials. Rogan remained positive about vaccines, even posting YouTube clips titled "The Safety & Efficacy of Potential COVID Vaccine." This represented Rogan's final strongly pro-vaccine stance before his position began shifting in 2021. The discussion provided accessible explanations of how mRNA vaccines work.

## 2021: The Shift Begins

### Episode #1639 - Dave Smith
**Date:** April 23, 2021
**Guest:** Comedian and libertarian political commentator

**Vaccine Topics:** Whether young, healthy people need COVID-19 vaccines, natural immunity versus vaccination, personal health choices regarding vaccination, risk stratification by age

**Key Points and Controversies:** This episode contained Rogan's most explosive vaccine statement that triggered national outrage. He declared: "If you're like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I'll go no. 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." The comments immediately drew criticism from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who responded on the Today show that young people should "absolutely" get vaccinated. White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield quipped: "Did Joe Rogan become a medical doctor while we weren't looking?" This marked the beginning of serious public health concerns about Rogan's influence. Days later, Rogan partially walked back his comments, calling himself "a fucking moron" and clarifying he's not anti-vaccine, but damage was done.

### Episode #1671 - Bret Weinstein & Dr. Pierre Kory
**Date:** June 22, 2021
**Guests:** Bret Weinstein (PhD, evolutionary biologist, DarkHorse podcast host) and Dr. Pierre Kory (MD, ICU and lung specialist, co-founder of Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance)

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns, vaccine spike protein concerns, ivermectin as alternative treatment, claims that ivermectin could "end the pandemic," pharmaceutical industry motivations regarding vaccines, YouTube censorship of vaccine discussions

**Key Points and Controversies:** Labeled an "emergency podcast" by Rogan, this episode promoted ivermectin as a suppressed miracle cure. Weinstein claimed ivermectin alone is "good enough to end the pandemic at any point" and alleged Big Pharma was suppressing it to maximize vaccine profits. Both guests revealed they were unvaccinated and taking ivermectin instead. The episode went viral on TikTok before clips were removed for medical misinformation. YouTube subsequently demonetized Weinstein's channels. Medical experts widely criticized the episode for promoting unproven treatments and discouraging vaccination. Later clinical trials would largely debunk ivermectin's efficacy claims.

### Episode #1693 - Evan Hafer
**Date:** August 2021
**Guest:** Black Rifle Coffee Company founder

**Vaccine Topics:** Vaccine passports and proof of vaccination systems, civil liberties concerns, comparisons to authoritarian systems, discrimination concerns regarding vaccine requirements

**Key Points:** Hafer and Rogan discussed vaccine passports as "one step closer to dictatorship." They criticized NYC's vaccine requirements, arguing they discriminated against minorities with lower vaccination rates. The conversation reflected growing resistance to vaccine mandates and sparked discussions about government overreach versus public health necessity.

### Episode #1699 - Meghan Murphy
**Date:** August 20, 2021
**Guest:** Canadian writer, journalist, and founder of Feminist Current

**Vaccine Topics:** mRNA vaccines falsely described as "gene therapy," vaccine mandates and civil liberties, natural immunity versus vaccination for previously infected, government overreach regarding vaccine requirements, vaccine passports

**Key Points and Controversies:** Rogan falsely claimed mRNA vaccines are "really gene therapy"—they are not, as they don't alter DNA. He stated it's "not logical, not rational, and not supported by science" for people with natural immunity to get vaccinated, a claim disputed by the CDC and medical community. Rogan announced he would refund tickets for his Madison Square Garden show rather than require fans to be vaccinated, demonstrating his increasingly hardline stance against mandates.

### Episode #1701 - Dr. Rhonda Patrick
**Date:** September 2021
**Guest:** PhD in biomedical science, expert on nutritional health

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine misinformation (identified 8 major myths), myocarditis, blood clots, and strokes—comparing vaccine versus COVID risks, long-haul COVID in young healthy people, spike protein safety, why young healthy people should get vaccinated

**Key Points:** Patrick, typically someone Rogan defers to on health topics, firmly pushed back against his vaccine hesitancy. She stated unequivocally that "no matter which way you look at it, it is worse to be exposed to the virus" than to get vaccinated. Patrick systematically addressed side effects attributed to vaccines, demonstrating they occurred at higher rates in unvaccinated people who contracted COVID. This was one of the first times Rogan appeared visibly uncomfortable with a guest's strong pro-vaccine stance, foreshadowing his continued drift toward skepticism.

### Episode #1717 - Alex Berenson
**Date:** October 12, 2021
**Guest:** Former New York Times reporter, author of "Pandemia"

**Vaccine Topics:** UK Public Health England vaccine surveillance data, claims that vaccinated people over 40 are more likely to catch COVID (misleading interpretation), vaccine efficacy data, claims that over 70% of UK COVID deaths were in vaccinated people (context missing)

**Key Points and Controversies:** Berenson cherry-picked UK government data to make false claims about vaccine ineffectiveness. He claimed vaccinated people over 40 had higher infection rates than unvaccinated, failing to mention critical footnotes in the reports warning against misinterpretation. He also cited UK death statistics without acknowledging the much larger vaccinated population, creating misleading impressions. Full Fact and other fact-checking organizations thoroughly debunked his data interpretation. The episode contributed significantly to vaccine hesitancy through statistical manipulation and became a case study in how misleading data analysis spreads.

### Episode #1718 - Dr. Sanjay Gupta
**Date:** October 13, 2021
**Guest:** CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, practicing neurosurgeon

**Vaccine Topics:** Whether young, healthy people should get vaccinated, myocarditis risk from vaccines versus COVID infection, vaccine efficacy and safety data, natural immunity versus vaccine-induced immunity, why children should be vaccinated, breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals, ivermectin controversy

**Key Points and Controversies:** This three-hour conversation became one of the most important vaccine debates of the pandemic. Gupta attempted to convince unvaccinated Rogan to get the shot, while Rogan challenged him extensively on vaccine necessity for those with natural immunity. Rogan revealed he had scheduled a vaccine appointment but didn't show up. **The debate centered on myocarditis risk in young people**, with Gupta countering that COVID poses greater myocarditis risk than vaccines—a point Rogan contested. Rogan also confronted Gupta about CNN calling his ivermectin use "horse medicine," forcing Gupta to acknowledge CNN should have been more precise. Despite contentious moments, the discussion remained civil and was widely praised as valuable public health discourse, demonstrating how vaccine debates could happen productively.

### Episode #1747 - Dr. Peter McCullough
**Date:** December 13, 2021
**Guest:** Board-certified cardiologist, widely published in cardiology

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns, early treatment protocols versus vaccination, claims that vaccines were pushed while early treatments were suppressed, vaccine mandates and coercion, vaccine adverse events and deaths, natural immunity versus vaccine immunity, mass vaccination strategy critique

**Key Points and Controversies:** McCullough claimed 50-85% of COVID deaths could have been prevented with early treatment rather than vaccines. He alleged "intentional, comprehensive suppression of treatment to promote mass vaccination" and called vaccines "experimental." He promoted hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin while questioning vaccine safety, claiming vaccines caused significant unreported adverse events. **McCullough argued young boys were more likely to be hospitalized from vaccine myocarditis than from COVID**—a claim disputed by subsequent data. The episode became wildly popular in vaccine-skeptic communities. McCullough was later sued by his former employer, Baylor Scott & White Health, for misrepresenting himself as their employee. Medical experts extensively criticized his claims as lacking evidence and context. This episode, along with the following Malone interview, catalyzed the organized medical response against Rogan.

### Episode #1757 - Dr. Robert Malone
**Date:** December 31, 2021
**Guest:** Virologist with early mRNA research patents (claims to be "inventor of mRNA vaccines")

**Vaccine Topics:** mRNA vaccine technology and safety concerns, "mass formation psychosis" theory (widely debunked), vaccine mandates and authoritarianism, spike protein dangers from vaccines, vaccine efficacy against variants (Omicron), natural immunity superiority claims, VAERS data interpretation (vaccine adverse events), financial incentives for hospitals and vaccine manufacturers

**Key Points and Controversies:** This became the most controversial Joe Rogan episode in history. Malone, who claims to have "invented" mRNA vaccines (a disputed assertion—mRNA technology had many contributors), spent three hours questioning current vaccine use. **He promoted the theory of "mass formation psychosis,"** claiming society was "hypnotized" into accepting vaccines—a term that doesn't exist in psychology literature. He compared vaccine efforts to Nazi Germany tactics and alleged hospitals were financially incentivized to inflate COVID deaths. Malone called for stopping childhood vaccination and promoted conspiracy theories about vaccine dangers.

**The fallout was unprecedented:** Twitter banned Malone for COVID misinformation the day before the episode aired. YouTube removed the video for violating COVID misinformation policies. The episode triggered an open letter from 270+ doctors, scientists, and healthcare workers demanding Spotify address misinformation. Musical artists Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Nils Lofgren removed their music from Spotify in protest. Congressman Troy Nehls entered the full transcript into the Congressional Record. Spotify stock briefly dropped $2 billion in market value. Despite massive pressure, Spotify kept the episode available but added COVID-19 content advisories. The episode went viral in anti-vaccine communities and became the defining moment in the podcast misinformation debate.

## 2022: Damage Control and Continued Controversy

### Episode #1762 - Josh Szeps
**Date:** January 12-13, 2022
**Guest:** Australian broadcaster (ABC Radio host)

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis risk in young people (ages 12-17), risk comparison between myocarditis from vaccine versus from COVID infection, vaccine efficacy data

**Key Points:** In a rare moment, Szeps fact-checked Rogan in real-time, correcting his claim that boys had higher myocarditis risk from vaccines than from COVID. Rogan's producer pulled up a New Scientist article showing 12-17 year old males had 450 cases per million from COVID versus 67 per million from Pfizer vaccine—about 8 times more likely from COVID than vaccination. **Rogan later tweeted the exchange was "cringey" and admitted Szeps "made him look dumb."** This episode came during the peak of JRE vaccine controversy, just days after the medical community's open letter and artist boycotts. It demonstrated that factual correction was possible on the show, though it happened rarely.

### Episode #1779 - Dr. Michael Osterholm (Return Appearance)
**Date:** February 18, 2022
**Guest:** Infectious disease epidemiologist (second appearance)

**Vaccine Topics:** Vaccine efficacy against different variants, waning immunity and boosters, risk of myocarditis from vaccines versus COVID, masks (N95 versus cloth), vaccinated versus unvaccinated infection data

**Key Points:** Osterholm returned to provide updated scientific perspective during Omicron's surge. He addressed vaccine effectiveness against new variants and defended boosters for vulnerable populations. **Critically, he discussed that myocarditis risk is substantially greater from COVID infection than from vaccines**, countering previous guest claims. Osterholm defended public health response while acknowledging mistakes, providing balanced scientific perspective during a highly polarized moment. This represented an attempt to course-correct after the McCullough and Malone controversies.

## 2023: RFK Jr. and the Presidential Campaign

### Episode #1999 - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
**Date:** June 15, 2023
**Guest:** Environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, founder of Children's Health Defense, 2024 presidential candidate

**Vaccine Topics:** Vaccines and autism link theories (debunked), mercury and aluminum in vaccines as neurotoxins, history of vaccines and vaccine ingredients, the Vaccine Act of 1986 (removing manufacturer liability), vaccine safety testing protocols, childhood vaccine schedule, vaccine injuries, DTP vaccine discontinuation, regulatory capture at CDC/FDA

**Key Points and Controversies:** Kennedy, named in the "Disinformation Dozen" by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, spent three hours promoting vaccine skepticism. He reiterated the long-debunked claim that vaccines cause autism and claimed vaccines contain dangerous levels of mercury and "other toxics." Kennedy discussed his environmental law work tracking mercury contamination as his entry into vaccine issues. **He became emotional discussing "vaccine-injured" children**, lending personal weight to scientifically discredited claims.

The episode triggered renewed controversy. Dr. Peter Hotez criticized it on Twitter, calling out the misinformation. **Joe Rogan and Elon Musk then challenged Hotez to debate RFK Jr. on the podcast, with Rogan offering $100,000.** Hotez declined, explaining that debating would falsely legitimize discredited claims and create dangerous "false balance." Vice called the episode an "orgy of unchecked vaccine misinformation." The timing during Kennedy's presidential campaign amplified concerns about platforming vaccine misinformation. Spotify made no effort to moderate beyond standard COVID advisories, demonstrating reduced platform concern about vaccine content.

### Episode #1979 - Dr. Aseem Malhotra
**Date:** April 29, 2023
**Guest:** NHS-trained consultant cardiologist, visiting professor

**Vaccine Topics:** mRNA vaccine safety concerns and alleged misinformation, excess cardiovascular deaths potentially linked to vaccines, pharmaceutical industry influence on medicine, personal experience with father's cardiac death and suspected vaccine connection

**Key Points:** Malhotra presented a unique case: initially a vaccine advocate who became a prominent critic after personal experience. His father died of cardiac arrest, which Malhotra suspected was vaccine-related. He published a controversial 10,000-word two-part article claiming vaccines have higher risk of severe adverse effects than reported. The episode focused heavily on cardiovascular concerns and pharmaceutical industry corruption. Malhotra's transformation from vaccine supporter to skeptic made him particularly compelling to vaccine-hesitant audiences, though medical experts questioned his causation claims regarding his father's death.

## 2024: Political Vaccine Skepticism

### Episode #2221 - JD Vance
**Date:** October 31, 2024
**Guest:** Republican Vice Presidential candidate, U.S. Senator from Ohio

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine side effects (Vance's personal experience), vaccine skepticism and mandates, RFK Jr.'s potential influence on Trump administration health policy, vaccines in developing countries

**Key Points and Controversies:** Days before the 2024 election, Vance revealed he was "red-pilled" after experiencing COVID vaccine side effects. He claimed he was "as sick as I've ever been for two days" after vaccination, worse than his actual COVID infection. **Vance expressed concern about potential future conflicts with developing nations over Western vaccine distribution**, suggesting geopolitical vaccine tensions. The discussion of RFK Jr.'s likely role in Trump administration health policy raised alarm among public health officials. Jerome Adams, Trump's former Surgeon General, later warned that RFK Jr.'s influence could severely erode vaccine confidence. The episode demonstrated how vaccine skepticism had become mainstream in Republican politics.

### Episode #2232 - Josh Brolin
**Date:** November 21, 2024
**Guest:** Actor (Avengers, No Country for Old Men)

**Vaccine Topics:** Bell's Palsy as potential COVID-19 vaccine side effect, childhood vaccination schedules (increase from 17 to 72 shots), vaccine injury and liability protection for manufacturers, autism-vaccine connection (Jenny McCarthy case), Hepatitis B vaccines for newborns, speech impediments and other alleged vaccine injuries

**Key Points and Controversies:** Brolin disclosed his recent Bell's Palsy diagnosis, with Rogan immediately suggesting a vaccine connection. Rogan claimed to know multiple people with vaccine-induced Bell's Palsy and facial paralysis, though NIH evidence on this connection remains mixed. **The conversation expanded to childhood vaccines broadly**, with Rogan criticizing the pharmaceutical industry for "demonizing" and "gaslighting" anyone questioning vaccines. They discussed Reagan-era vaccine liability protection laws, suggesting manufacturers escaped accountability. Brolin agreed with Rogan's skepticism, stating: "Let's not assault your children with a potential poison." The episode marked Rogan's continued expansion from COVID vaccine skepticism to broader anti-vaccine positions.

## 2025: Full Anti-Vaccine Embrace

### Episode #2294 - Dr. Suzanne Humphries
**Date:** March 26, 2025
**Guest:** Nephrologist, author of "Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History"

**Vaccine Topics:** Polio vaccines (claimed decline due to sanitation, not vaccines), smallpox vaccines (claimed tuberculosis was side effect), vaccine manufacturing process (animal tissues, mercury, adjuvants), mercury (thimerosal) in vaccines, SV40 virus contamination, DNA contamination, aluminum adjuvants, food allergies potentially caused by vaccines, measles and vitamin A, Guillain-Barré syndrome, tetanus vaccines, COVID-19 vaccines (claimed snake venom proteins), DDT and arsenic as polio causes (not virus), vaccine safety testing claims

**Key Points and Controversies:** This became the most extensive anti-vaccine episode in JRE history and marked Rogan's complete ideological transformation. Humphries, who left medical practice in 2011 to become a full-time anti-vaccine activist, spent approximately three hours making repeatedly false, debunked claims about vaccine history. She argued vaccines never accounted for disease reduction—sanitation did. She claimed polio was caused by DDT pesticide, not virus, and that smallpox vaccine caused tuberculosis. **Regarding COVID-19, she promoted conspiracy theories about "snake venom proteins" being engineered into lab-created viruses.**

**Rogan's response was stunning:** He said he previously believed "vaccines are the most important invention in human history" but changed his mind after reading Humphries' book. He promoted the book to his 7.6+ million Facebook followers, calling it "the real history of vaccines." Multiple fact-checking organizations including Science Feedback, Science-Based Medicine, and Vaxopedia published detailed rebuttals.

**Even Elon Musk pushed back**—a rare disagreement with Rogan—defending vaccines as effective against many diseases. The episode aired during a measles outbreak in Texas where two children died, making the timing particularly controversial. Humphries' claims represented hardcore anti-vaccine ideology that goes far beyond COVID skepticism to question all vaccines throughout history. This marked Rogan's evolution from questioning COVID vaccines for young people to promoting books claiming vaccines never worked at all.

### Episode #2335 - Dr. Mary Talley Bowden
**Date:** June 10, 2025
**Guest:** Board-certified Otolaryngologist (ENT) and Sleep Medicine specialist, founder of BreatheMD in Houston, Texas

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness and transmission prevention, ivermectin as alternative treatment, vaccine injuries and lack of ICD-10 coding, spike protein antibody levels in vaccinated individuals, hospital protocols during pandemic (ventilator use, medication dosing), monoclonal antibody suppression, pharmaceutical industry corruption, vaccine injury reporting systems (VAERS), death protocols in hospitals, medical board persecution

**Key Points and Controversies:** Bowden became one of the most controversial COVID doctors in America, making national headlines in November 2021 when Houston Methodist suspended her privileges for "spreading dangerous misinformation" on social media. She had tweeted she would only treat unvaccinated patients and promoted ivermectin extensively despite FDA warnings. The hospital accused her of using patient information on social media and violating HIPAA. Bowden resigned and filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Methodist, which was dismissed in 2023.

**Her most famous case involved Sheriff Deputy Jason Jones**, a Fort Worth patient in a medically-induced coma on a ventilator for over two months. When Jones' wife obtained a court order for ivermectin treatment, the hospital appealed. Bowden attempted to send a nurse to administer the drug, leading to police being called and a chaotic scene. Jones eventually recovered after his wife secretly gave him ivermectin. The Texas Medical Board filed formal complaints against Bowden, and in October 2024 voted to publicly reprimand her for "unprofessional conduct" and "disruptive manner" at the Fort Worth hospital—though she was never accused of harming patients.

On the podcast, Bowden claimed she successfully treated over 6,000 COVID patients using alternative methods including monoclonal antibodies and ivermectin, with zero deaths. She discussed tracking vaccination status and concluded vaccines weren't preventing transmission as promised. **Bowden made explosive allegations about hospital "death protocols,"** claiming she reviewed cases where hospital staff allegedly euthanized COVID patients with excessive medications or implemented non-consensual DNR orders. She reported seeing alarming rises in spike protein antibody levels in vaccinated individuals years after vaccination.

Bowden serves as senior fellow with the Independent Medical Alliance (formerly FLCCC—the group that promoted ivermectin protocols), founder of Americans for Health Freedom, and board member of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation. She has over 216,000 Twitter followers and became a hero in anti-vaccine communities. Ironically, the Texas Legislature passed a resolution in 2024 commending her COVID treatment, and Governor Abbott signed legislation making ivermectin available over-the-counter—the very drug that led to her medical board troubles. Bowden called the medical board's actions a "politicized witch hunt," while the board insisted they would pursue "any physician attempting to treat a patient in a hospital without privileges, regardless of the circumstances."

The episode demonstrated Rogan's continued platforming of doctors who faced professional discipline for COVID treatment controversies, lending credibility to physicians accused of spreading misinformation by their own medical boards and hospitals.

### Episode #2325 - Aaron Rodgers
**Date:** May 2025
**Guest:** NFL quarterback

**Vaccine Topics:** COVID vaccine safety concerns, pharmaceutical industry influence, SV40 conspiracy theory, environmental factors in disease, autism rates, fertility concerns related to vaccines

**Key Points:** Rodgers, who faced significant controversy for his vaccine stance during his NFL career, discussed his ongoing concerns about vaccine safety and pharmaceutical industry trustworthiness. The conversation touched on SV40 contamination theories and expanded to broader questions about environmental health factors, autism prevalence, and fertility—all topics frequently linked to vaccine skepticism. This demonstrated Rogan's continued platforming of vaccine-skeptical celebrities in 2025.