Carolina Panthers new signal caller, Sam Darnold, was interviewed after OTAs Wednesday. One of the questions posed to him was about his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine. His reply was one of caution and unsureness.
“I haven’t been vaccinated yet,” Darnold said. “Still gotta think about all those certain things that go into it. Again, it’s everyone’s choice, whether they wanna get vaccinated or not. So, that’s really all I got on it. I don’t wanna go too into detail.”
Darnold was also questioned about his knowledge and research on the vaccine and if that is a factor in his decision. “Yeah, I have been. For me, I’m just staying by myself right now. I don’t have a family or anything like that. Again, there’s a ton of different things that go into it. I’m gonna evaluate that on my own and make the best decision that I feel is, again, the best for myself.”
Darnold, who is a fourth-year veteran quarterback, recently turned 24 years of age. He has had health issues in the past, particularly mononucleosis, which is also an infectious disease. He contracted the illness two seasons ago when he was a member of the New York Jets. So of course his reaction and responses did not go without criticism on social media.
Darnold isn’t the only NFL player who has spoken out about being apprehension to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The Washington Football Team standout pass rusher, Montez Sweat, also has his doubts about players being vaccinated against the virus.
“I’m not a fan of it,” Sweat said Wednesday. “I probably won’t get vaccinated until I get more facts and that stuff. I’m not a fan of it at all.”
The WFT brought in an expert, Harvard immunologist Kizzmekia S. Corbett, to talk to the players and educate them about the vaccines.
“We’re trying to gather as much information and allow the players to get as much information so they can make a choice and make a decision,” Washington coach Ron Rivera said. “The big thing is we’ve got to be able to facilitate the opportunity for these guys to understand. There’s a lot of messaging that’s out there that they get off of Twitter and some of it’s good, some of it’s bad.”
Sweat was still not convinced, “I haven’t caught COVID yet so I don’t see me treating COVID until I actually get COVID,” he said.
The NFL came out last month with a policy that fully vaccinated players and staff were not required to wear mask. Commissioner Roger Goodell gave some data last month on the leagues vaccination rate. 30 of the leagues 32 franchises had a vaccination rate above 90% for tier 1 and 2 level staff members.
Maybe Darnold will make a decision to get vaccinated at the start of the season. He and the Panthers will face off against quarterback Zach Wilson and his old teammates from the Jets.
