New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers courted controversy in the early days of the NFL’s post-Covid era with his views on vaccines. Now, three years into hindsight, Rodgers looks back on his comments with some regret — but not because he hasn’t been vaccinated.
Rodgers' life to be explored in depth in upcoming biography Out of the Dark: The Secret of Aaron Rodgers by sports writer Ian O'Connor. An extract from the preface ESPN It shows exactly how Rodgers views the statement that has sparked so much speculation about his vaccine status.
Rodgers is famous for telling reporters, “Yes, I have been vaccinated,” during a July 2021 press conference when asked if he had been vaccinated against the virus. That statement itself sparked further criticism, and Rodgers said the following year The Joe Rogan Experience He said he prefers “a holistic process of vaccination through a doctor.”
In his first widely publicised comments on alternative medicine, Rodgers told reporters he regretted using the word “immunised” but did not want to portray Covid measures in any other way.
“If there's one thing I want to be different, it's that, because that's the only thing. [critics] “He could have hit me,” Rodgers says in O'Connor's book.
At the time, he was busy with his application to the NFL to be considered vaccinated under its guidelines. He later said he discovered he was allergic to polyethylene glycol, or PEG, a component of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, and was concerned about adverse health reactions following reports of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Looking back now, he says he wishes he had taken 10 steps back against the league. “If I could do it over again, I would say: [in August]'Fuck the penalty.' I'll just tell them I'm allergic to PEG, I won't use Johnson & Johnson, and I won't get vaccinated,” he says in the book.
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He explained what was going on in his mind about the NFL and their relationship at that time.
“I had a vaccination card from my holistic doctor that looked similar. I wasn't trying to present it as a vaccination card, but I said, 'Listen, here's my protocol. This is what you can follow to look into this.' And that was an ongoing objection. So, if I were to just say [I was unvaccinated] “There is no way the objection can be handled in the same way right now,” he said.
Asked whether he would get vaccinated in accordance with local regulations or risk being benched like Kyrie Irving, Rodgers' answer was simple: “I wouldn't.”
Out of the Dark: The Secret of Aaron Rodgers It will be on shelves on August 20th.