Aaron Rodgers strikes out against the NFL, ‘waking up mob’ in defense of vaccination status
NFL
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rick Scuteri / AP
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers condemned the “wake-up call”, “cancellation culture” and what he described as a “witch hunt” against him, and strongly defended his decision not to be vaccinated against coronavirus during an appearance on “Pat McAfee ShowFriday, when he cracked down on the NFL’s coronavirus protocols, saying they were “not based on science, but on a more shame-based environment.”
Rodgers was revealed to have tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, and he will miss Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. He cannot join the Packers again until the day before their Week 10 game against the Seattle Seahawks. Rodgers said he experienced symptoms of covid-19 and “did not feel well” earlier in the week, but felt better Friday.
In August, Rodgers was told he was considered unvaccinated according to protocols developed by the league and the NFL Players Association after raising a question regarding his vaccination classification. The Washington Post reported this week that Rodgers may have been interested in a homeopathic medicine alternative to vaccination.
Rodgers responded to a journalist’s question in August about his vaccination status by saying he was “immunized.” At the start of a nearly 20-minute opening statement Friday during a nearly hour-long performance, Rodgers said he did not lie about his status.
“It was not some kind of cunning or lie,” he said, appearing to read from prepared remarks. “Had there been a follow-up to my statement that I have been immunized, I would have… Said, ‘Look, I’m not some kind of anti-wax flatbread. I’m one who is a critical thinker. me. I march to the beat of my own drum. ‘
“I strongly believe in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body, not to have to agree to a waking culture or a crazy group of individuals who say you have to do something. Health is not a uniform solution for everyone. And for me, it meant a lot of study during recess … I spent a lot of time and energy researching this and met with a lot of people to get as much information as possible about the vaccines before I made my decision. “
Rodgers said he could not take either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines because he has an allergy to an ingredient in the mRNA vaccines manufactured by those companies, and that he was simply following advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rodgers did not identify the specific allergy.
His only option, he said, was the vaccine created by Johnson & Johnson, but he “had heard of several people who had had adverse events around getting J&J… Physical abnormalities around getting J&J shots. And so, in the middle of April, The J&J shot was drawn for solidification problems. So the J&J shot was not even an option at the time. “
After “talking to a lot of medical individuals and professionals,” Rodgers said he “found an immunization protocol he could go through to best protect myself,” which did not involve getting one of the three available vaccines. He later said he had also consulted with podcaster Joe Rogan, his “now good friend”, who claimed he treated his own battle with covid with ivermectin, a drug given to both humans and horses, has the Food and Drug Administration said is not an effective treatment of the disease. Rodgers said he had also taken ivermectin, which is only available by prescription.
“I’m grateful that people like Joe step forward and use his voice,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers said that during the preseason he asked Packers and the NFL to accept this alternative protocol – he “collected over 500 pages of research on the effectiveness of immunizations,” he said – but said he realized he would not win his argument , when one of the Packers’ team doctors told him that “it was impossible for an immunized person to get covid or spread covid… as we now know that that information is completely false.” Rodgers later denied that the league offered any opportunity to consider “alternative medicine.”
Unvaccinated NFL players face stricter restrictions compared to vaccinated players and are tested daily for coronavirus, and Rodgers said Friday that he had followed those rules and that the Packers knew he was not vaccinated. He said his decision not to take one of the accepted vaccinations “was in the best interests of my body … My medical team told me that the risk of having an adverse event outweighed the risk of to get covid and get me. So I made a decision in my body’s best interest. “
Rodgers added that he was concerned about the effect of the vaccines on his chances of having children.
As for the NFL’s coronavirus policies, Rodgers said, “they were not based on science at all, they are based solely on trying to embarrass people” and make unvaccinated people “feel like the most dangerous people in society.” He questioned why the league forces people to wear masks around vaccinated people, and why unvaccinated people should be tested every day when vaccinated people can also spread the virus.
“The great MLK said, ‘You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense,'” Rodgers and paraphrased pastor Martin Luther King Jr. said.
Rogers lashed out at journalists as he said, “trying to shame and out and annul all of us unvaccinated people, call us selfish: ‘You are selfish to make a decision that is in your body’s best interest.” . . . I go back to two questions for this waking mob: Number one, if the vaccine is so good, why is it then that so many people get covid and spread covid and unfortunately die of covid? . . . To the media out there shooting at me: Like, you do not know my story. Now you do. So do not lie about it. “
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