Immunized
Last week, Aaron Rodgers tested positive for Covid which set off a fire storm throughout the media and the NFL because it was revealed that he was not vaccinated, but had stated he was “immunized” back in August.
Rodgers claimed that he is in the "crosshairs of the woke mob", and that the media is “trying to shame and out and cancel all of us not vaccinated people, calling you “selfish for making a decision that’s in the best interest of your body.” This is the exact opposite stance that the media took toward Simone Biles, or any of the players who opted out last season because of Covid. In those cases, individuals making decisions that they believed were in the best interest of their bodies were not called selfish, they were called heroic.
Rodgers also claimed that “saying that [the vaccines are] a blanket for all that ails you, in my opinion, is wrong and reckless,” and saying “that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated is a total lie.” He pointed out that the media is calling “unvaccinated people… the most dangerous people in society.”
The same week Rodgers tested positive for Covid, Denver QB Drew Lock who is vaccinated also tested positive which required his vaccinated teammate Teddy Bridgewater to produce a negative test in order to play on Sunday. This turn of events proves that the vaccinated can get Covid and spread it to the vaccinated. Drew Lock was just as much of a threat to his teammates as Rodgers, yet he escaped the media onslaught only because he took a vaccine that didn’t work.
The Covid numbers in the NFL question the efficacy of the vaccines as well. In 2020 when there were no vaccines, 262 players tested positive for Covid. Halfway through the 2021 season with over 94% of the players vaccinated, 124 players have tested positive; they are on pace for 248 positive tests which means that the vaccines have produced only a slight reduction in cases. The fact that vaccinated people can get the virus, and spread the virus as easily as unvaccinated people, torpedoes the argument that we must get vaccinated to protect others.
The lack of vaccine efficacy is shown in the general population as well. During the 10 months of March thru December of 2020 when there were no vaccines, the United States recorded a total of 352,000 Covid deaths. During the 10 months of January to October of 2021 with the vaccine rates reaching as high as 65%, the United States recorded a total of 353,000 deaths from Covid. There have been more Covid deaths with the vaccines than without it.
During both years of the pandemic, there have been zero deaths among NFL players due to Covid which means the lethality of the virus to NFL players has been nil. So, coercing players into taking medication that they don’t need, who’s efficacy is in question, and is only authorized for “emergency use” is dangerous. What happens 5 to 10 years from now if some of these players develop long term debilitating side effects from these vaccines? The FDA will wipe their hands clean, hiding behind the “emergency use” defense claiming that NFL players took the vaccines at their own risk. But will the players be able to sue the NFL and their teams to recoup the millions of lost wages caused by their careers being cut short by the vaccines that they were coerced into taking by the league?
One of the main reasons why there is vaccine hesitancy in this country is the politicization of the virus and vaccines. The virus has been exploited from day one. The Democrats used it to discredit Trump in their attempt to win the Presidency, and they have been exploiting this virus every day since to grab more and more power over the American people. The Democrats rule through fear. They strike the fear of God into the citizens, and then use that fear to empower themselves. It is such a cynical and destructive way to approach politics.
Many people don’t trust the vaccines because they do not trust the people who are the most vocal vaccine advocates. During the Presidential campaign, both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris said they would not take the vaccines because Trump helped produce them. Now that they are in power, they are all on board with the vaccines Trump was touting, and they are using vaccine hesitancy which they helped to create, to shame people, and take away basic human rights. These people’s blind pursuit of power have endangered many peoples’ lives through Covid-19.
Dr. Fauci has lied over and over again; he lied about masks; he lied about the origin of the virus; he lied about his funding the gain of function research in the Wuhan lab which created the virus, and he is lying about the efficacy of the vaccines. But strangely, there is greater outrage over Aaron Rodgers lying about his vaccination status than Dr Fauci lying about his role in creating this pandemic. The dishonesty and the hypocrisy of Biden, Harris and Fauci has discredited them as advocates for the vaccines which in turn creates people like Aaron Rodgers who are scared or skeptical of the vaccines.
Was Rodgers wrong for misleading the public about his vaccination status? Of course, but it is understandable why he would do so. We no longer have control over our bodies, over our health decisions. We are told what medicine we must take, or we will be unable to earn a living. There are no other illnesses or ailments where this is the case. In the NFL, if a player gets injured in a game, he is not required to follow the team’s doctor’s medical advice. He is allowed to get a second opinion on how to treat his injuries. Yet, he is not allowed a second opinion when it comes to these vaccines.
In the face of the questionable vaccine efficacy, advocates will shift their argument, claiming that the vaccines are not meant to stop infection or prevent the spread, they are meant to mitigate the symptoms, hospitalization and death of the vaccinated. That is all great, and true, but it simply proves that these “vaccines” are not really vaccines; they are pre-emptive medication which disputes the approach that our government and many companies has taken in regarding these medications.
This not an argument to dissuade people from getting the “vaccines”, it is an argument for honesty and freedom. We are currently living in a world that is outside of reality. We regularly change the definitions and meanings of words to fit our narratives, and we are doing that with these “vaccines”. If these “vaccines” do not work like vaccines, why do we continue to call them “vaccines”? Why do we implement vaccine mandates when these medications do not work like vaccines? And why do we shame the unvaccinated, and label them health risks when the vaccinated spread the virus just like the unvaccinated? Getting the vaccine does not prevent NFL players from contracting or spreading Covid, it just immunizes them from incurring the wrath of the media which is really what this is all about.
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Judd Garrett is a graduate from Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.