# Aaron Rodgers and vaccines **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 8, 2021, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976 "2021-11-08T13:37:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/21 "2021-11-08T14:50:35Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I thought that was after he was found out, not before. Doesn’t anyone have a timeline? According to [this](https://www.nfl.com/news/packers-qb-aaron-rodgers-tests-positive-for-covid-19-will-not-play-in-week-9-ver) (emphasis added): > Rodgers previously had sought and was denied an exemption from the NFL-NFL Players Association COVID-19 protocols based on his antibody levels _ **this summer** _, which left his status as unvaccinated, NFL Media reported Wednesday. > > Rodgers received homeopathic treatment from his personal doctor to raise his antibody levels and asked the NFLPA to review his status. The players’ union, the NFL-NFLPA jointly designated infectious disease consultant and the league agreed that Rodgers’ treatment did not provide any documented protection from the coronavirus. Edit: Actually, that sentence is confusing. I read it as suggesting that he sought the exemption this summer, but it’s possible that it means that he sought the exemption more recently based on an antibody test of this summer. Still, I can’t imagine that the discussions referenced took place in the last week. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/22 "2021-11-08T14:51:22Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > According to [this](https://www.nfl.com/news/packers-qb-aaron-rodgers-tests-positive-for-covid-19-will-not-play-in-week-9-ver) (emphasis added): Thanks, I was wrong about when the league and the team knew. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/23 "2021-11-08T14:52:02Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > As I understood the story, Rodgers had made a pitch to the league (or the union?) to be deemed compliant based on some homeopathic treatment. Which was rejected, but certainly suggests that people knew about it. The incident where he responded to a direct question by saying he was “immunized” (i.e. got this woo-woo “immune enhancement”) has the air of a recalcitrant child trying to use some technicality to claim that they didn’t _really_ disobey parental instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/24 "2021-11-08T14:52:26Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I thought that was after he was found out, not before. Doesn’t anyone have a timeline? Based on his own comments, this was earlier, leading to him mostly following non-vaxed protocols: > _“I have followed every single protocol to a T,” Rodgers [said](https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1456679561970831361?s=20). “My daily routine is the routine of an unvaccinated person. I have to test early. Starting the season, unvaccinated people had to test once a day. We’re being made to think we’re the dangerous ones, we’re the super spreaders. I test every single day and (at) 5 a.m. for noon games. Before you go in, you have to wait in your car. Non-vaccinated people test and go right in. Mask every day in the facility. Physically distance from everyone else. I can’t leave the hotel, can’t have dinner with teammates. The only people I see at the hotel are vaccinated people. I can’t see anybody after the game. I work out off to the side of the room in a mask. I’m not allowed to use the sauna or steam room. I have to wear a yellow wristband at all times, shouting to the world, ‘I’m unclean and unvaxxed.’”_ ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/25 "2021-11-08T15:02:51Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > In my mind, a suspension would be way over the top. Really? I think he should be suspended for as many games as he has played because of his deception and lies. That would be the rest of the season, right? Oh, and another thing; if he isn’t appropriately punished for his misdeeds, every other person in the NFL who was threatened and coerced to toe the line should sue Goodell and the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/26 "2021-11-08T15:06:14Z")
He didn’t qualify for playing any games due to deception and lies. You are allowed to not be vaccinated in the NFL. But if you choose not to get vaccinated, you have to abide by a whole bunch of onerous restrictions. By the sound of it, he followed them all except masking during press conferences. This strikes me as a minor procedural violation, and I stand by my recommendation of a $25,000 fine, or alternately that same fine per press conference. What is that now, six or seven? Sure, $150,000. Fine. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/27 "2021-11-08T15:12:04Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > He’s lost _a_ sponsorship with a local healthcare provider, “serving Green Bay, Sheboygan and Oconto Falls.” Call me when he gets dumped by State Farm. I had State Farm as a client for a couple of years; they hate getting bad press, and are very conservative (from a financial standpoint). They didn’t dump Rodgers after all of the stink last spring and summer, but this is at a different level – they might surprise me, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if they do cut ties with him this week. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/28 "2021-11-08T15:12:35Z")
I’m surprised they haven’t already. To the point where I’m looking at that as evidence that they might not. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/29 "2021-11-08T15:13:12Z")
The league office is going to do something to the Packers. They have to at this point - other teams are lodging complaints about special treatment for one team when they’re all following protocol. The team’s reaction isn’t the greatest, either. Matt LaFleur’s defense is that Rodgers followed protocols “in football areas”, basically trying to avoid responsibility for dealing with his headache of a prima donna QB. As for suspension or not, I can’t see it making a difference either way. Stereotypes aside, football players aren’t that dumb. They know star QBs get special treatment. A slap on the wrist 1 game suspension isn’t going to make a difference to them and hardly at all to him. And Rodgers can afford the loss of 1 game check. And they’re not likely to do more than that. To have teeth, they’d need to suspend him for something like 4 games. Brady got that many for Inflategate, which didn’t involve actual health or lives. Which goes to show you where the NFL’s priorities lie. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/30 "2021-11-08T15:13:32Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m surprised they haven’t already. The fact that a lot of this blew up on Friday, and then over the weekend, may have slowed down their (State Farm’s) response. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/31 "2021-11-08T15:14:56Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > But that’s not all! He also went on a rant about woke mobs and cancel culture – I have never heard cancel culture and woke mobs associated with the vaccine. What the fuck is he talking about? Is it just his way of deflecting responsibility for his own dishonesty about his vaccine status? It’s the current nonsense that signifies someone is upset that they are being held accountable for their words and actions. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > since he pitched his woo to them at some point. Heh. “Pitching woo” used to mean something entirely different. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/32 "2021-11-08T15:15:03Z")
Maybe not. There are reports (I haven’t verified these) that the number of Rodgers’ State Farm ads [was reduced](https://www.actionnetwork.com/nfl/state-farm-aaron-rodgers-commercial-anti-vaccine-nfl-2) this last weekend. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/33 "2021-11-08T15:16:08Z")
There was a State Farm commercial during the footballing yesterday that featured Terry Bradshaw. The weird thing was that only a few minutes earlier during the Fox pregame show, Bradshaw admonished Rodgers and reminded America that ivermectin is horse dewormer. True story. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/34 "2021-11-08T15:17:51Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > To have teeth, they’d need to suspend him for something like 4 games. Brady got that many for Inflategate This is a fair point. I also view deflategate as a minor procedural violation, though, and considered the punishment excessive to the crime, amplified by public outcry. But that also describes this situation, so, I guess for consistency, a four game suspension could be appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/35 "2021-11-08T15:17:55Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Heh. “Pitching woo” used to mean something entirely different. Yeah, I was thinking about that as I typed it, but liked it and kept it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/36 "2021-11-08T15:17:56Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > There are reports (I haven’t verified these) that the number of Rodgers’ State Farm ads [was reduced](https://www.actionnetwork.com/nfl/state-farm-aaron-rodgers-commercial-anti-vaccine-nfl-2) this last weekend. I saw no Rodgers SF ads in two football games. The Mahomes ones were being shown. The only one that had Rodgers was a Terry Bradshaw one that just had a painting of Rodgers. > [@RitterSport](#): > > What are the chances that he’s being truthful about his allergy to whatever is in the mRNA vaccines? That would be zero. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/37 "2021-11-08T15:18:07Z")
Yeah, Bradshaw really laid into Rodgers. I’ll see if I can find a clip. ETA: You can see a tweet with the Bradshaw stuff in this article, just scroll down a bit: > **[Terry Bradshaw criticizes Aaron Rodgers over COVID vaccine status: 'You lied...](https://sports.yahoo.com/terry-bradshaw-leads-morning-show-charge-criticizing-aaron-rodgers-you-lied-to-everyone-233354067.html)** > > Rodgers' COVID vaccine controversy was not well-received on the set of the network broadcasting Sunday's Packers-Chiefs game. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/38 "2021-11-08T15:19:03Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > What are the chances that he’s being truthful about his allergy to whatever is in the mRNA vaccines? Well, it’s possible. But if that were the case most likely he’s be having issues with some other stuff that contains the offending allergen. If it’s a PEG allergy he’d have known issues with laxatives, some other medications, skin creams, lubes, some toothpastes, and even some food and drink. You’d think this would have been noticed before, although skin contact might not set someone off who has problems with PEG being consumed or injected. > [@RitterSport](#): > > Not that it matters, because the J&J vaccine is available, of course. True. And that one does not contain PEG. If he had an allergy to the mRNA vaccines he still could have gotten the J&J vaccine. Or he could have been honest about being anti-covid-vax. Instead, he chose to lie and deceive. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/39 "2021-11-08T15:19:51Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Bradshaw admonished Rodgers and reminded America that ivermectin is horse dewormer. True story. No shit? (I never watch the Happy Hour) And I was just going to make a crack about TB being the prototype dumb jock. Go Terry! (and your acting career is pretty good, too!) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976/40 "2021-11-08T15:21:32Z")
I have to point out, Ivermectin is also used in humans for parasitic infections like intestinal parasites or head lice… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaron-rodgers-and-vaccines/953976.md?page=3)