The Washington Football team on Tuesday had a vaccine scientist join them to speak with players about the facts concerning the coronavirus vaccine.
Kizzmekia Corbett, who helped develop the Moderna vaccine, spoke with players in hopes of increasing their inclination to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to USA Today.
“She was outstanding,” Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera said of Corbett during a Zoom conference call on Wednesday. “Our players were engaged, they asked a lot of good questions and off of that, we had several guys that are getting vaccinated and have gotten vaccinated because of that. Again, I think the big thing is we’ve got to be able to facilitate the opportunity for these guys to understand.”
Rivera explained the challenges of convincing players of the benefits of the vaccine while competing with misinformation that they find on social media.
“There’s a lot of messaging out there, they get it off of Twitter and some of it is good, some of it is bad. I’m not sure these guys watch the news as much as I do and try to gather enough information, but we are really trying to help them, because if we can get to that herd immunity, we can really cut it loose and really be able to spend time with each other,” he said.
The coach told USA Today that while all employees at the team headquarters and every member of the coaching staff have been vaccinated, the players have been slower to get inoculated.
“I think we are nearing 50 percent,” Rivera said of the percentage of players on the team who have been vaccinated. That number included the players who decided to get their shots on Tuesday.
After the visit from the vaccine scientist, Washington defensive end Montez Sweat expressed that he still had a hesitancy to getting vaccinated, USA Today reported.
“I’m not a fan of it at all,” Sweat said during a Zoom call on Wednesday. “I won’t get vaccinated until I get more facts.”
“I haven’t caught COVID yet,” Sweat continued. “So, I don’t see me treating COVID until I actually get COVID.”
In April, the NFL called on teams to encourage both staff and players to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It is appropriate now to take further steps to educate about and promote vaccine availability and acceptance within the NFL,” the league said at the time.