Whenever I hear elite athletes and professional football players talk about their vaccine hesitancy, I’m completely disgusted at the abject stupidity on display. The sport I follow – tennis – has some anti-Vaxxers, but at least most of them have learned to not get too f–king specific about it at this point. These football players, though. Last week it was Kirk Cousins refusing to get vaccinated and suggesting a Plexiglass solution to all of his issues. Cousins is on the Minnesota Vikings, reportedly one of the NFL teams with the worst vaccination rates in the entire league. On the other side, we have the Baltimore Ravens, a team which claims to have a 90% vaccination rate among players. One of the few holdouts on the team? Quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is recovering from his SECOND Covid infection. Dude still refuses to get vaccinated.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was noncommittal on whether he would get vaccinated after being infected with COVID-19 twice in the past eight months, saying it was a “personal decision.”
“I just got off the COVID list,” Jackson said after Monday’s practice when asked if he would get the vaccine. “I got to talk to my team about this and see how they feel about it. Keep learning as much as I can about it. We’ll go from there.”
Does that mean he’s thinking about getting vaccinated? “We’ll see,” Jackson said. “Talking to the doctors. We’ll see.”
Jackson returned to training camp Saturday after missing 10 days, the NFL-mandated quarantine for unvaccinated players who test positive. Last November, Jackson tested positive for COVID-19 and missed one game. On Monday, he acknowledged he dealt with the same symptoms from the coronavirus this time and slept a lot because of fatigue. Jackson said last December that he “wouldn’t wish [COVID] on anybody” and reiterated that Monday. But he still wouldn’t budge on whether he would get the vaccine, even when pressed that it puts the Ravens at a competitive disadvantage.
“I feel it’s a personal decision,” Jackson said. “I’m just going to keep my feelings to my family and myself. I’m focused on getting better right now. I can’t dwell on that right now … how everybody else feels. Just trying to get back to the right routine.”
Once again, it’s not a “personal decision.” It’s just not. Not when you’re a public figure – an elite athlete – and not when your job requires you to be in close quarters, like a huddle or a locker room. He’s endangering his own welfare and he’s endangering everyone he comes in contact with, including teammates. In fact, it’s not a damn personal decision for the people who are not elite athletes either. It’s how you prove you’re a functioning member of society: you care about your own health and the health of others enough to get vaccinated. Jackson is 24 years old – where is he hearing this sh-t about how it’s his “personal decision” and why does he believe that getting Covid again would be preferable to just getting the g–damn vaccine?
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.
I’m so tired about this dumb no vax persons.
Agreed! I have no more patience for this anti vax, “personal choice” BS. Just get vaccinated ffs.
It’s not a “personal decision!!!!
Exactly. These people need to learn the definition of worldwide pandemic.
A communicable disease is not “personal” unless you live on a deserted island. If the NFL goes forward with that forfeiting plan when players test positive, then his teammates might “persuade” him to sing a different tune.
Exactly! If you want to eat Doritos until you die, THAT’S a personal decision. No one is going to catch Dorito death from you. Not the case with COVID. Not how pandemics work.
Whenever I travel back to the states my risk of dorito death goes way up. Actually… cheez-it and Arizona ice tea death. I am highly susceptible to this disease. Very good chance my last moments will be spent trying to eat the crumbs at the bottom of a family sized Cheez-it box…
“She died doing what she loved” my tombstone will say, cheddary crackers strewn about in memoriam.
@ Molly and @ Beenie, thank you for your service of putting the vaccine into the best perspective. For me, it would be Cheetos though.
It’s up the NFL and every other sport association place a mandatory vaccine requirement. I hope that as soon as the FDA passes this emergency treatment, it will be treated as the same requirement as other manageable disease.
I am so sick and tired of these non vaccinated excuses and refusal due to pure selfishness, and the Repugnants as well!!
I don’t follow football, so I hadn’t heard that they’re considering this. While reading the article though, I also thought about instituting fines for players who refuse vaccination and then are forced to sit out if they test positive. Pretty much any contract for professional sports includes clauses prohibiting activities which could result in injury impairing your ability to play. Getting the vaccine should be covered by that. Contracting covid endangers not only you, but also your teammates and players across the league. Refusing the vaccine increases your risk of infection and, possibly, affects your ability to fulfill the terms of your contract.
You can take the player out of Florida but you can’t take Florida out of the player. As a Ravens fan, I am salty about his personal decision.
I’m a Ravens fan too and this pisses me off! The NFL needs to hit teams financially so hard for forfeited games that teams require vaccinations. It will be the only thing that motivates some of these guys.
“I can’t dwell on that right now… how everybody else feels.” Clearly.
His career is done. The after effects of having Covid is gonna do him in. And since his stupidity in not getting the vaccine is public, there is no way he is gonna get contract money if and when he leaves the profession in, Imma guess a year. Tops.
Twice!
The stress on your brain and your heart when you’re oxygen deprived has long term impacts for many people, professional athletes included.
It’s not just selfish, even from a self centred stand point it’s stupid to put his career at risk this way too.
Idiots. All of them. So selfish. We’ve come a long way as a society, but I’m pretty sure this type of mentality didn’t exist a century ago. People just sat down and willingly got the shot.
Actually there were anti-maskers during the 1918 pandemic. There has always been resistance when it comes to human behavior. I personally don’t understand it.
I’ve read that there were anti-maskers, but there wasn’t the weird political crap society has attached to it these days. I understand not wanting to mask up, it sucks. But getting sick and dying also sucks, so I’ll take the vaccine and mask, please and thank you!
Just do it! Your example will save lives, especially those of your young fans who look up to you and see you as a role model. If you can save the life of even one kid, wouldn’t it be worth it to you? Wouldn’t it?
“Just need to talk to my doctor about it.”
“I’ll see what my doctor says.”
“It’s between me and my doctor”
Unless you have a very specific immunocompromising condition that reacts poorly to the vaccine (because most immunocompromised people are OK to receive the vaccine), there is NO reason to ask your doctor “should I get vaccinated?”. Yes you muppet, you should! 100 out of 100 doctors will say YES, PLEASE GET IT!
This is a ridiculous thing that I see celebrities say in interviews or idiot posters on Reddit regurgitate. No… there is no F’ing reason for you to ask your doctor if you should get vaccinated. It is perfectly clear that for 99%+ of the population – yes you should. Stop wasting everyone’s time, including overworked healthcare professionals who don’t want to hear about how another numpty conspiracy theorist has done “his research” and knows better than the ENTIRE medical community (assuming they are even going to see them…. which of course they probably aren’t)
You guys should check out the video of Chet Haze (Tom Hank’s son) ranting about not getting the vaccine. Like dude your parents had Covid pretty bad way at the beginning remember? F*cking idiot.
NFL needs to lay down the law – unless you have a very specific medical condition, the vaccine is a requirement to be on the team – from the QB right down to the guys bringing out the water and towels.
It is incredibly unfair to expect one’s teammates, staff, and opponents to put themselves and their own families at risk.
This guy has gotten it, TWICE, and is still refusing. JFC.
I’m a ravens fan so he’s my QB and I’m so mad about this. Get the damn vaccine. You want that superbowl ring? you want to go farther in the playoffs? Your chances are better if you’re healthy. And having COVID twice is already going to be bad enough for you. If you don’t care about protecting others, or about getting sick yourself, think of your career.
I wonder what his chest xrays look like. If he’s able to play through the next season it’ll be a miracle. F a career, he can die. He is an idiot but if the NFL let’s him play it’s basically criminal negligence on multiple fronts. This whole situation is an infuriating mess.
Imagine being a lineman on the Ravens – your QB is asking you to put your body on the line to protect him, but he refuses to do the minimum to make sure you and your family don’t get sick. it’s not like they can refuse to get in the huddle. Is he going to cover the team’s paychecks for a forfeited game?
You can’t fix stupid.
@ MaryBeary, oh, but I wish we could. What also sickens me is that some elderly refuse the vaccination as well, and they lived to see the polio epidemic, but we can’t trust this vaccination!
He talks like he’s a volunteer for clinical trials instead of a football team member – “Keep learning as much as I can about it.” I’m sure with a third bout of Covid, he’ll learn even more.
Why is typhoid Mary being allowed to play??? Sit him down for the season and start docking his pay for every game he allows to go by without being vaccinated. It’s his choice not to get vaccinated but no one else should get sick or die because of his choice, he was contracted to play, you can’t play because of a choice, you don’t get paid.
I know a woman who got it and so did her 8 year old. She struggled but still will not get it. She didn’t even quarantine, still went to stores and the beach. Yay Florida.
A military spouse here in Canada is very antivax and has had so many “friends” hospitalized with vaccine injuries. Shes clearly making it up. Her kids returned with “colds” and she never had them tested, did not isolate.
I hate them so much.
I had a co-worker tell me her friend’s husband died after getting vaccinated. Sure, he’s one of the 0.00000001%. Yup, he has an enlarged heart and it gave him high blood pressure and blah. blah, blah. Sure, sure. You see his death certificate? I can’t talk to her about the pandemic anymore. We have two people in our department like that and I’m not going to go back to work and sit next to them. Nope. They can stay home or I can.
I don’t understand how these folks can see it as just a personal decision even after getting Covid. Like, you are now are clear example of how someone else’s “personal decision” had a direct impact on you and your health.
Third time’s the charm? I don’t mean death, just a little wake-up call. If he’s lucky.
Oh. Dear. God. The NFL needs to get it all the way together and make a good decision for once. Forfeits, steep financial penalties, etc. But I have little faith in that organization being on the right side of history when it comes to much. And I say this as a Broncos fan. 🙁
Bottom line, his refusal to get vaccinated will be responsible for at least one death if it hasn’t happened already. The NFL needs to step up and mandate vaccinations or fire the holdouts. Hard stop. It is time to be aggressive and stop tiptoeing around this killer virus. Federal mask and vaccine requirements need to be set because we have proven that leaving it up to choice doesn’t work. Except for the small percentage that have legitimate vaccine allergies or major difficulties breathing, it just needs to happen or this will never end.
I am so sick and tired of the world’s dumb deadbeats killing my family (lost an uncle to COVID who took every precaution, was healthy and still got ill most likely from the antimaskers at the grocery store) and endangering the lives of myself, my spouse and my kids. I’ve had friends and family who thankfully survived COVID from early on in the pandemic prior to public vaccination availability who still have long term side effects – some dangerous like permanent heart damage, to non life threatening such as the inability one year later to taste regularly. It will never end as long as people like this idiot are around.
Eff him and all anti-vaxxers.
I’m in the middle of planning a memorial service for my dumbass brother from a red state who refused to get a vaccine. He was as stubborn as the day was long, right down to his dying breath. He wasn’t even sick a full 10 days. He literally died 4 days after he got his diagnosis confirmed.
Now that the shock and gut-wrenching anguish wore off, everyone is pissed and angery at the dumbass. Now I’m wondering if his kids will finally get vaccinated.
This is why governing bodies need to have stricter requirements.
You want to be in public? Then be safe for the public. If your personal choice puts others at risk, then it’s no longer just personal.
What happens if this guy infects another player, or children attending the games? Exposing others to disease knowingly (typhoid mary, meet COVID Lamar) can be considered a crime.
If they can bench and blacklist someone for taking a knee why can’t they do it now?
I am so so so sick of reading such disrespectful articles commenting on a persons choice. I’m a fence sitter and because of where I stand currently I am frankly too scared to speak of what my concerns and questions are around the vaccine because basically – this. Where has the respect gone?
I respect your choice as long as you don’t impact anyone else.
So hopefully youre staying in isolation.