Nicki Minaj says she isn't attending the Met Gala because she isn't vaccinated against COVID-19

• Nicki Minaj said she will not be attending the 2021 Met Gala because she is not vaccinated, as the event requires.
• "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," she tweeted.
• While breakthrough COVID-19 infections can occur, vaccines are very effective in staving on serious illness and death.

Rapper Nicki Minaj said in a tweet Monday that she would not be attending the 2021 Met Gala because the event required attendees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

"They want you to get vaccinated for the Met," Minaj said in a tweet Monday afternoon. "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."

Minaj also revealed on Monday that she had previously contracted COVID-19 and questioned the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines, claiming that rapper Drake told her he got the disease after he had been vaccinated.

While breakthrough COVID-19 infections can occur, the COVID-19 vaccines are still effectively preventing severe disease, hospitalization, and death from the coronavirus, even in the face of the Delta variant which has ravaged the US in recent months.

While some research suggests the Delta variant can partially evade vaccine-induced antibodies, the vaccines remain highly useful in combating the spread of the disease. Vaccinated people who do contract COVID-19 typically experience milder symptoms that resolve relatively quickly, compared to the dangerous shortness of breath and flu-like symptoms that can last for weeks in unvaccinated people.

Data from earlier this month showed, once again, that unvaccinated people are far more likely to become infected, hospitalized, or die from COVID-19 than the fully vaccinated. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than people who got shots.

Following her initial tweet about the Met Gala, Minaj continued to interact with her followers in further tweets about 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 wrote.

The CDC has previously debunked claims that the vaccines can lead to impotence among men or fertility problems in women. No evidence currently shows that any vaccines lead to such side effects. In fact, early research suggests that COVID-19 could cause impotence and erectile dysfunction.

Minaj conceded in a later tweet that she will likely get vaccinated at some point in the future in order to go on tour.

"A lot of countries won't let ppl work w/o the vaccine," she wrote. "I'd def recommend they get the vaccine. They have to feed their families."

"I'm sure I'll b vaccinated as well cuz I have to go on tour, etc.," she added.

She then asked her followers which vaccine they would recommend.