Podcaster Joe Rogan has COVID-19 — and elaborate treatments

Podcaster Joe Rogan has COVID-19 — and says he ‘threw the kitchen sink at it’

A bald man with a red T-shirt and arm tattoos speaks into a microphone

Sept. 2, 2021 9:37 AM PT

Influential podcast host Joe Rogan, who once told young people they “don’t need to worry about” getting vaccinated against COVID-19, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The controversial emcee of Spotify’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” revealed Wednesday on Instagram that he had contracted the respiratory illness. He said he opted to get tested for COVID-19 after feeling “very weary” over the weekend and isolating from his family “just to be cautious.”

“I had a headache, and I just felt just run down ... [T]hroughout the night, I got fevers and sweats, and I knew what was going on,” the 54-year-old said in a short video.

“I got up in the morning, got tested and turns out I got COVID. So we immediately threw the kitchen sink at it — all kinds of meds: monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin ... everything. And I also got an NAD drip and a vitamin drip, and I did that three days in a row.”

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized monoclonal antibody therapy as an emergency treatment for COVID-19 to fight off severe illness. The FDA has not, however, approved the use of ivermectin, which some vaccine skeptics swear by — despite a lack of scientific evidence to support their claims, not to mention the potential harmful effects of taking the anti-parasitic drug at high doses.

IV treatments such as NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) and vitamin drips are usually administered in an effort to improve general fitness and wellness — though there isn’t much scientific proof to back their efficacy either.

“Here we are on Wednesday, and I feel great,” Rogan continued. “I really only had one bad day. Sunday sucked, but Monday was better. Tuesday felt better than Monday, and today I feel good. I actually feel pretty f— good. That’s the good news.”

“The bad news” is that Rogan has postponed his upcoming performance with comedian Dave Chappelle in Nashville from Friday to Oct. 24. The podcaster previously announced that his forthcoming show in New Orleans has been delayed as well.

“My apologies to everyone,” Rogan said. “Obviously, there’s nothing that I can control. It is what it is. Crazy times we’re living in, but a wonderful, heartfelt thank you to modern medicine for pulling me out of this so quickly and easily, and my love to all of you.”

It’s unclear whether Rogan is vaccinated for COVID-19, though he said in an April episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that he had an appointment to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to CNN.

Earlier this year, Rogan drew sharp criticism for discouraging young listeners from getting immunized against the disease, which has continued to ravage the unvaccinated community as the highly contagious Delta variant sweeps across the United States and abroad.

Vaccines — if administered as a preventative measure prior to infection — have proven to be the most effective method of protection against hospitalization and death due to COVID-19, by far.

“People say, do you think it’s safe to get vaccinated? I’ve said, yeah, I think for the most part it’s safe to get vaccinated. I do. I do,” Rogan said in April. “But 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 ... I don’t think you need to worry about this,” he added.

After a backlash, Rogan insisted he is “not an anti-vax person” and admitted he isn’t “a respected source of information.”