Four NFL teams haven’t reached 50 percent vaccination threshold: report

Four NFL teams have a less than 50 percent COVID-19 vaccination rate, according to The Associated Press.

As of Thursday, the Washington Football Team, Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Chargers have yet to reach the halfway threshold, a person with knowledge of the league’s vaccines told the AP.

The news comes as NFL training camp begins in less than two weeks. 

NFL Network reported that nine teams had an 85 percent vaccination rate as of Wednesday. According to the network’s Tom Pelissero, 71 percent of players in the league have received at least one shot.

The person familiar with the NFL vaccinations told the AP that Miami, Carolina, Denver and Pittsburgh were the teams with the highest inoculation rates. 

Players needed to be vaccinated by Monday in order to avoid restrictions including wearing masks, daily testing, not being able to eat in the cafeteria and limited capacity indoors.

The move comes as pockets of unvaccinated areas in the U.S. are seeing surges in COVID-19 cases as the highly contagious delta variant spreads. The nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, said that over 99 percent of individuals who died from COVID-19 in June were not vaccinated. 

The AP also obtained a memo sent to clubs regarding updated guidance by the NFL, made with NFL Players Association, that provides a daily maximum number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals that can travel to joint practices.

Tier 1 individuals refer to players, trainers and coaches. Tier 2 individuals refer to some assistant coaches, general managers and others. 

Depending on the vaccination rate of the team, they can have either 100 or 140 people travel to practice. Eighty-five people maximum can travel on team transportation at a time. Remaining staff that want to attend the practice would have to travel separately.

The Hill has reached out to the NFL for comment.