Two days after the news he tested positive for COVID-19, will miss Sunday’s game against the Chiefs and is not vaccinated, Aaron Rodgers told his side of the story.
The Packers quarterback appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show,” speaking for about 15 uninterrupted minutes about all of the factors that went into his decision not to be vaccinated — and all of his issues with the backlash he has received.
“I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now, so before my final nail gets put in my cancel-culture casket, I think I’d like to set the record straight on some of the blatant lies that are out there about myself right now,” Rodgers began.
Rodgers said he didn’t “lie” during a late-August press conference when he said he was “immunized” and there was a “witch hunt” going on in the media over who was unvaccinated.
“It wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie, it was the truth,” Rodgers said.
Nevertheless, most people who heard his answer at the time assumed he was affirming he had been vaccinated. Rodgers said he would have responded to a follow-up question about being immunized.
“I would’ve said, ‘Look, I’m not some sort of anti-vax, flat-earther. I am somebody who is a critical thinker, you guys know me, I march to the beat of my own drum, I believe strongly in bodily autonomy,’ ” Rodgers said.
“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. Health is not a one-size-fits-all for everybody.”
When asked why he didn’t comply with NFL protocols and wear a mask during press conferences, as unvaccinated players are supposed to do, he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and railed against a policy he believed “is not based in science.”
“The great MLK said, you have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense,” Rodgers told McAfee.
He said he studied the vaccines before making the decision, and claims he is allergic to one of the ingredients in Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines. He said the CDC’s website advises people with allergies to ingredients in those vaccines not to take them.
He also decided not to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because he heard of friends’ adverse reactions to it, and the fact that it was temporarily pulled last spring over blood-clotting issues (though those clots affected mostly women, and in microscopic numbers). That is how he arrived at the decision to undergo a multiple-month homeopathic antibody process.
Rodgers said the NFL was aware of his immunization process, because he petitioned the league for an exemption. The league subsequently denied him an exemption. He said he lost faith he would succeed in his appeal when he had an unspecified meeting with the NFL and said a doctor from the league told him that “it was impossible for a vaccinated person to get or spread COVID.”
Per The Athletic, Rodgers was offered the opportunity to speak with a league doctor or infectious disease expert, but did not do so.
Rodgers said he was advised by his own doctors that he was more at risk of an adverse effect from vaccines than he would have been from COVID-19. He also said he felt symptoms Tuesday night, tested positive Wednesday and was feeling fine Friday.
Further, Rodgers railed against “coercion and collusion” from the league office about threats not to sign or retain unvaccinated players, especially ones who were deemed dispensable.
Rodgers said it is a near-term goal to be a father. He expressed concern that there have not been long-term studies completed on sterilization and fertility. Rodgers is engaged to actress Shailene Woodley.
Rodgers also said he consulted with Joe Rogan.
“I’ve been doing a lot of stuff that he recommended in his podcasts and on the phone to me, and I’m going to have the best immunity possible now based on the 2.5 million-person study from Israel that the people who get COVID and recover have the most robust immunity. I’m thankful for people like Joe stepping up and using their voice,” Rodgers said.
The quarterback also said he is “taking [monoclonal] antibodies, Ivermectin [an antiparasitic drug doctors have warned against taking to treat COVID], zinc, Vitamin C and D, HCQ [an antiviral that had its approval for treating COVID pulled by the FDA], and I feel pretty incredible.”
Despite that, Rodgers will still miss at least the Packers’ showdown with the Chiefs on Sunday. Backup Jordan Love is set to make his first NFL start and head coach Matt LaFleur doesn’t expect the increased Rodgers noise to be an issue.
“I’m not worried about that being a distraction,” the coach said Friday. “I’m worried about going to play a really good football team.”