Aaron Rodgers said he did not lie when discussing his vaccination status.
Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and is considered unvaccinated by the NFL and NFL Players Association and is in a 10-day minimum quarantine that will keep him out of the Packers’ game Sunday at the Kansas City Chiefs. In a 46-minute appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers said he is allergic to an ingredient in two of the three approved vaccines — the ones produced by Moderna and Pfizer, known as mRNA vaccines.
“I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body, not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture or crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something,” Rodgers said during a lengthy rebuttal to what he suggested was misinformation reported over the past several days. “Health is not a one-size-fits-all for everybody, and for me it involved a lot of study in the offseason.”
He is now dealing with the fallout of his decision and comments as Prevea Health — a Wisconsin-based health care organization — cut ties with Rodgers a day after his Pat McAfee interview.
Prevea Health described it as a mutual decision in a statement. The organization did not reference Rodgers’ appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” or any specific comments made by Rodgers in its statement, but did note that it remains “deeply committed” to getting eligible people vaccinated.
Asked in August whether he was vaccinated, Rodgers said, “Yeah, I’ve been immunized.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
“First of all, I didn’t lie in the initial press conference,” Rodgers said Friday. “During that time, it was a witch hunt that was going on across the league, where everybody in the media was so concerned about who was vaccinated and who wasn’t and what that meant and who was being selfish and who would talk about it, what it meant if they said it’s a personal decision and they shouldn’t have to disclose their own medical information.
“And at the time, my plan was to say that I have been immunized. It wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie. It was the truth, and I’ll get into the whole immunization in a second. But had there been a follow-up to my statement that I’ve been immunized, I would have responded with this: I would have said, ‘Look, I’m not some sort of anti-vax, flat-Earther. I am somebody who’s a critical thinker.'”
Rodgers made additional comments regarding both the vaccine and the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, some of which were disputed by the league.
Under NFL policy, Rodgers is not eligible to return to the Packers for 10 days.
