Billionaire tech billionaire, Tesla CEO and X owner, Elon Musk, has reignited the global debate over the safety of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines after sharing a deeply personal account of his experience with both the virus and its vaccine.
In a post to His comments, published on April 12, 2026, were in response to testimony by Dr. Helmut Steers, a former toxicologist at Pfizer, at a German parliamentary inquiry that discussed vaccine-related death estimates.
The post has since sparked a global conversation, with users sharing their personal experiences while health authorities reiterated well-established scientific findings on vaccine safety.
What did Elon Musk say about the Corona virus vaccine?
Musk turned to X to draw a stark contrast between his infection with Covid-19 and his experience with the vaccine.“It is clear that the vaccine dose was too high and was administered too many times,” he wrote. “I had the original Wuhan virus before there was any vaccine, and it was very much like any other cold or flu.
Bad, but not terrible. But my second vaccine dose almost sent me to the hospital. “I felt like I was dying.”This post was a repost of content shared by Swedish journalist Peter Emanuelsen (@PeterSweden7), who amplified Dr. Helmut Steers’ testimony before the Bundestag Coronavirus Committee in Germany. Musk’s comments quickly became one of the most discussed topics on the platform.
The German parliamentary testimony that started it all
At the heart of the controversy comes the appearance of Dr. Helmut Stirz before the Corona Committee in the Bundestag on March 19, 2026, at the invitation of the Alternative for Germany party.
Strz, a retired toxicologist who previously worked at pharmaceutical companies Roche and Pfizer, has made several claims about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.He claimed that key preclinical safety studies were bypassed during development and raised concerns about long-term effects. More controversially, he applied a multiplier to Germany’s official figure of 2,133 post-vaccination deaths reported to the Paul Ehrlich Institute, arriving at a speculative estimate of 20,000 to 60,000 vaccine-related deaths in Germany, based on extrapolation rather than confirmed causal data.This number has not been independently verified or supported by public health authorities and remains an individual interpretation, not a scientific consensus.
Elon Musk’s complicated history with Covid vaccines
This is not the first time Musk has spoken about Covid vaccines, and his position has evolved over time.In September 2020, he said he would not take the vaccine. Months later, after testing positive for Covid-19, he had a change of heart. By 2021, he had publicly announced that he supported vaccines in general and COVID vaccines specifically.He later received the Johnson & Johnson shot, which he tolerated well, but reported strong reactions to subsequent booster doses of mRNA. In January 2023, he wrote that he experienced significant side effects from a booster shot and felt extremely unwell for several days. He also stated that one of his relatives developed myocarditis after vaccination.
“I’m not against vaccines,” is Musk’s exact position
Despite his criticism, Musk has consistently said he is not against vaccines.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson in 2024, he acknowledged that vaccines have saved many lives and remain important in disease prevention.He pointed to the polio and smallpox vaccines as major medical achievements. His primary concern was the mandates, not the vaccines themselves.“What concerned me most was the demand for people to take the vaccine and multiple booster doses to do anything at all,” he wrote. He also said he would not fire employees who refused to be vaccinated.
What does science actually say?
Health authorities continue to stress that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective for most people. The World Health Organization described it as a key tool for reducing serious illness and deaths during the pandemic.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that myocarditis is a rare side effect of mRNA vaccines, and is usually mild and resolves without complications.Common side effects such as fatigue, fever, and pain are expected immune responses and are usually short-lived.
Musk did not precisely define his symptoms, which made clinical interpretation difficult.The controversy surrounding Musk’s comments reflects a broader tension in post-pandemic discourse between solid scientific evidence and individual experiences. Although adverse events do occur, they remain rare compared to the overall benefits of vaccination in preventing severe disease.What remains clear is that salient sounds can significantly impact public perception. With Musk once again at the center of the conversation, the debate over vaccines, risks, and personal choice continues to evolve.
