Aaron Rodgers has come under fire for contracting COVID-19 after revelations he was never, in fact, vaccinated.
The COVID-scolds have jumped on this and hammered the Green Bay Packers quarterback for endangering others. Part of me wants to treat this as one of their typical overreactions, but they kind of have a point this time.
Rodgers addressed several falsehoods about his situation on the Pat McAfee Show.
“So, before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I’d like to set the record straight on so many of the blatant lies out there,” he said. “I tested for COVID over 300 times before testing for [a] possible positive, and I probably got it from a vaccinated player.”
He added that he sought alternative treatments because he said he was allergic to mRNA vaccines.
The quarterback petitioned the NFL, the NFL Players Association, and a jointly approved infectious disease expert to be considered vaccinated so he would not have to follow protocols that unvaccinated players do in team facilities and outside. His petition was ultimately denied, ESPN reports. He said the Packers, his teammates, and the NFL “knew of his status when he was questioned by the media in August,” as ESPN notes.
So, based on Rodgers’s interpretation, everyone involved knew of his status. He did not hide or mislead anyone. Whether that is the whole truth, we don’t know. But Rodgers does appear to have broken one rule, and this is where he is culpable.
According to ESPN, “Rodgers has violated at least one of the protocols for unvaccinated players by regularly appearing at his news conferences without a mask. Only vaccinated players can do that.”
As a friend pointed out to me, if Tom Brady suffered a four-game suspension for deflating footballs, Rodgers deserves something for endangering the lives of others by going maskless as if he were vaccinated. People around him in press conferences were under the impression there were limited risks because they believed all protocols were being followed. Rodgers did not do that and violated that trust. As such, he should be punished for doing so.
Rules are rules. Body autonomy does not supersede rules to protect others. If Rodgers could not or did not want to take the vaccine, that is fine. But he should have been responsible and mature enough to follow the rules for unvaccinated players, mutually agreed upon by the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
When liberal Democratic elites violate their own rules and orders, conservatives typically assail their hypocrisy and demand accountability. Following that logic, even though the hypocritical elites get away with their transgressions, Aaron Rodgers shouldn’t.
