New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he would’ve been more straightforward about his COVID-19 vaccination status in 2021 if he could go back.
During a press conference, Rodgers told reporters he was “immunized” against COVID, which led many to believe he had received the vaccine. In an upcoming book by Ian O’Connor, he expressed regret at not relaxing his true stance.
“If there’s one thing I wish could have gone different, it’s that, because that’s the only thing [critics] could hit me with,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers was adamant that he was focused on his appeal to the NFL to be considered vaccinated under the league’s COVID-19 guidelines.
“But if I could do it again, I would have said [in August], f–k the appeal. I’m just going to tell them I’m allergic to PEG, I’m not getting Johnson & Johnson, I’m not going to be vaxxed,” he said. “… I had an immunization card from my holistic doctor, which looked similar. I wasn’t trying to pawn it off as a vaccine card, but I said, ‘Listen, here’s my protocol. Here’s what you can follow to look this up.’ And it was an ongoing appeal. So, if I had just said [I was unvaccinated] in the moment, there’s no chance that the appeal would have been handled the exact same way.”
It all came ahead for Rodgers in November of 2021, when he tested positive for COVID-19, which led people to discover his true status as it related to the vaccine. He also received a fine from the NFL for violating its COVID policies when he attended a team party while unvaccinated.
Rodgers said he wouldn’t have gotten vaccinated if the league or city mandated it, like New York City did with Kyrie Irving.
The New York Jets quarterback is set to return to the field in 2024, after missing the 2023 season with a torn Achilles injury, suffered in Week 1.
