Raven “the Science Maven” Baxter, an award-winning science educator, molecular biologist and lyricist, offered rapper Nicki Minaj an opportunity to discuss the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines this week through a shared love of hip-hop music.

but I’m also a rapper,” Baxter told Yahoo News.

Her invitation to Minaj came after the 10-time Grammy-nominated artist expressed hesitancy about getting a vaccine ahead of Monday’s Met Gala in New York City.

In a subsequent tweet, Minaj suggested that COVID-19 vaccines could lead to impotence, which, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and numerous other health organizations, is untrue.

Following the series of tweets, support for Minaj’s vaccine skepticism flooded in.

But the critical response was also swift, with Minaj getting into multiple Twitter spats with users, including MSNBC host Joy Reid, who expressed disappointment in the rapper for not encouraging her 22 million followers to “protect themselves and save their lives” by getting vaccinated!

Minaj did not answer a request for comment from Yahoo News.

Instead of lecturing the rapper with big words and scientific jargon, Baxter responded with an open invite, tweeting, “Nicki, if you wanna chat with a scientist and fan about the vaccine, I’m happy to talk.

Uché Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity, told Yahoo News during the initial vaccine rollout late last year.

Social media also continues to play a major role in promoting vaccine hesitancy among Americans.

At a time when people are choosing sides when it comes to Minaj’s tweets about the vaccine, Baxter sees it as an opportunity to connect.

“We have to make sure that we get creative with our outreach in informal spaces like the internet and making sure that [everyone] gets the message,” she said, adding that as a scientist she doesn’t take offense to people doing their own research about the vaccine — so long as the information is coming from authoritative sources.

Read more from Yahoo News:.

Nicki Minaj may say she’s in “Twitter jail” after her comments this week about the COVID-19 vaccine but Twitter says the claim, much like the idea that the vaccine makes you impotent, is not true!

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