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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick got into hot water last week over comments he made on the COVID-19 vaccine, but now he’s trying to straighten out the ship.
Belichick’s original comments came during a media session last Wednesday, when asked if quarterback Cam Newton had been kicked from the squad because he chose to remain unvaccinated. Belichick gave an unequivocal “no” to this, but then went further, downplaying the usefulness of the vaccine.
It turns out that Belichick was 100% wrong about a “fairly high number” of vaccinated players, coaches and staff who tested positive. Belichick’s comments about the vaccine were so inaccurate that NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr Alan Sills publicly refuted them. Dr Sills said the data he looked at shows a higher rate of infection in unvaccinated players than in vaccinated players. He also said the vaccine does exactly what it’s designed to do: prevent people who contract COVID-19 from becoming seriously ill.
Belichick clarifies vaccine comments
On Monday, Belichick began his media session by addressing the controversial comments about the vaccine he made last week.
“No player has been released or kept because of their immunization status. That is not part of the equation. My comment about immunizations is that it is an individual decision to be made by each person. team we are better if everyone is vaccinated and that being said even if everyone is vaccinated it does not solve all of our problems as we have seen, multiple players, assistant coaches, league head coaches have tested positive for COVID even after being vaccinated.
“It is always our responsibility to be vigilant in our daily hygiene and decision making for the health and safety of each of us individually and our team. We will continue to follow league protocols as we always have. , but this is not a factor in the release or non-release of the player. “
Belichick doesn’t want to force anyone to get the shot, but he admitted it would be better for the Patriots as a team if everyone got the shot. This way, players would only miss a short time if they tested positive (as long as they were free of symptoms) and would not have to miss any time if they were in close contact with someone who tested positive. (Unvaccinated players miss at least 10 days if they are positive and five days if they are in close contact.)
He is also right that even if the whole squad were vaccinated, players could still test positive. Unfortunately, that is life during a pandemic. But if the whole team is vaccinated, at least you know that infected players are unlikely to suffer severe symptoms, which could affect them for much longer than a few weeks and even lead to death.
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