Elon Musk has now said he does support COVID-19 vaccines because the ‘science is unequivocal’, just one month after he stoked fears about ‘negative reactions’ to second shots.
The Tesla boss sought to clarify his views to his over 50 million Twitter followers Wednesday insisting ‘I do support vaccines in general & covid vaccines specifically’ and saying that ‘rare’ allergic reactions can be ‘easily addressed’.
His comments mark just the latest aboutface for the controversial billionaire who has repeatedly drawn ire over his reaction to the pandemic.
Over the last year, Musk has gone from calling fears of the virus ‘dumb’, to falsely claiming children are ‘essentially immune’ and branding lockdowns ‘fascist’ before pledging to make ventilators to support states in bringing the outbreak under control.
Elon Musk has now said he does support COVID-19 vaccines because the ‘science is unequivocal’, just one month after he stoked fears about ‘negative reactions’ to second shots
‘To be clear, I do support vaccines in general & covid vaccines specifically. The science is unequivocal,’ Musk tweeted Wednesday.
‘In very rare cases, there is an allergic reaction, but this is easily addressed with an EpiPen.’
Musk stirred up concerns about the safety of the vaccine last month when he suggested the second dose of two-shot vaccines could be harmful.
The 49-year-old was replying to a post someone had shared about their parents’ refusing to get the vaccine ‘based on stuff they saw on Facebook.’
Musk appeared to add fuel to the so-called ‘Facebook brainwashing effect’ cited by the social media user when he raised concerns about ‘quite a few negative reactions’ to the second shot.
‘For sure wise for elderly or immunocompromised to take the vaccine. Some debate about the second jab though. Quite a few negative reactions to that,’ Musk tweeted on March 12.
After initially backtracking on his comments Wednesday, Musk later appeared to double down on his doubts over the second dose.
‘Probably J&J, but BioNtech & Moderna are good too. Some debate imo as to whether a second synthetic mRNA shot is really needed, but the first is a no-brainer,’ he replied to a user’s comment.
Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines approved in the US require a second dose for maximum protection against COVID-19.
The Tesla boss sought to clarify his views to his over 50 million Twitter followers Wednesday insisting ‘I do support vaccines in general & covid vaccines specifically’
Musk later suggested he still does not want to be vaccinated so that someone more in need can get it instead
The second Pfizer shot should be administered 21 days after the first and the Moderna 28 days after.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine only requires one shot.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday urged Americans to continue to get both doses of Pfizer and Moderna, warning that people may be ‘in a tenuous zone if you don’t have the full impact’ of both doses.
A CDC study this week found both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine was 80 percent effective in preventing infections among health-care and other essential workers, rising to 90 percent two weeks after the second dose.
Separate studies show that side effects are more frequent after the second dose but severe allergic reactions are still very rare with just 4.5 incidents of allergic reactions reported for every million second dose of Pfizer administered, according to CDC data.
His comments come after he stirred up concerns about the safety of the vaccine last month when he suggested the second dose of two-shot vaccines could be harmful (above)
Despite his reservations, Musk suggested he does not want to be vaccinated so that someone more in need can get it instead.
‘When you said you weren’t getting it since you had Covid was that because you don’t want it, or you think someone else would benefit more since you have some immunity to it already?’ one person asked him on Twitter Wednesday.
‘Latter,’ Musk replied.
When another person commented that ‘there will be plenty in a few months’, the Tesla boss responded: ‘A tidal wave of vaccine is being produced!’
It is not clear if Musk now plans to get the vaccine down the line when he believes there are enough doses to go around and when his apparent immunity has decreased.
A third of all Americans have now received at least one dose of the vaccine with 19.4 percent of the population fully vaccinated.
In November Musk said he ‘most likely’ had COVID-19 after he tested both positive and negative twice
From April 19, all American adults will be eligible to get the vaccine under Joe Biden’s updated requirements to ramp up the rollout.
Back in September, Musk vowed he and his children will not get the vaccine when one becomes available to them because he said they are ‘not at risk’ of the virus.
‘No, I’m not at risk for COVID. Nor are my kids,’ he said in an interview on the New York Times’ podcast Sway.
This came after Musk tweeted in November that he ‘most likely’ had COVID-19 after he declared ‘something extremely bogus is going on’ when he took tests and received conflicting results.
‘Am getting wildly different results from different labs, but most likely I have a moderate case of COVID,’ he said.
Over the last year, Musk has gone from calling fears of the virus ‘dumb’, to falsely claiming children are ‘essentially immune’ and branding lockdowns ‘fascist’ before pledging to make ventilators to support states in bringing the outbreak under control. Pictured Musk with partner Grimes and their son
‘My symptoms are that of a minor cold, which is no surprise, since a coronavirus is a type of cold.’
Days earlier Musk claimed to have taken four coronavirus tests in a day, two coming back positive and two negative.
‘Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD,’ he wrote.
Musk has repeatedly downplayed the extent of the virus which has so far killed more than 559,000 Americans.
In early March last year, he fired off a tweet dismissing rising fears over the coronavirus outbreak as ‘dumb’ as cases mounted across the US.
‘The coronavirus panic is dumb,’ he wrote.
Days later on March 19, when stay-at-home orders were being introduced across much of America, he incorrectly predicted that the pandemic would be all but over by the end of April.
Last March he incorrectly predicted that the pandemic would be all but over by the end of April
Last month, it emerged that hundreds of employees at the site in Alameda County (above) had contracted COVID-19 after being told to return to work
‘Based on current trends, probably close to zero new cases in US too by end of April,’ he wrote.
He then incorrectly told his followers that children were ‘essentially immune’ to the virus and blasted the nationwide lockdowns as ‘de facto house arrest.’
Musk then appeared to have a change of heart, however, when he delivered over 1,000 ventilators to a California hospital and vowed to reopen Tesla’s New York factory to help make and distribute ventilators to the embattled state.
In May, he announced he was moving Tesla’s HQ to Texas from California because of local lockdown rules as he defied officials and reopened his plant anyway.
Last month, it emerged that hundreds of employees at the site in Alameda County had contracted COVID-19 after being told to return to work.
Around 450 of 10,000 workers at the plant contracted COVID-19 between May and December 2020, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.