He didn’t need to be so self-deprecating but he didn’t bow down. He re-stated that he just thought young, healthy people didn’t need it.
The self deprecating and pushback gave the writer of the story her OPINION that everyone is keying on. Quotation marks matter. This is how narrative is shaped and spread. I think people (myself included) need to dig deeper into what is truth, subjective, objective, opinion and outright fake news.