COLUMN: Anti-vax athletes are horrible teammates and worse role models

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/08/2021 (1433 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are a lot of Minnesota Vikings fans in southern Manitoba.

It would be fascinating to survey those fans to see what they think of Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins’ controversial decision to not get vaccinated. It’s already cost his team some important practice days because Cousins and the team’s other two QBs had possibly been exposed to COVID and had to miss practice. It’s possible that his decision could end up seriously harming Minnesota’s chance to make a deep playoff run.

To be clear, professional athletes have no contractual obligations to disclose their vaccination status. There is no legal requirement for them to say whether or not they’ve been vaccinated. However, there certainly is a moral obligation, as millions of sports fans – not to mention impressionable children and teenagers – consider athletes to be role models.

Teaching kids to be vaccine skeptics in the middle of a pandemic where those vaccines are our best hope, is morally repugnant and scientifically ignorant, a combination that makes Cousins and others like him the worst possible role model.

This is wildly different than the obligations that politicians absolutely do have, in terms of telling their constituents whether or not they believe that COVID is real, whether they believe vaccines are effective or dangerous and whether or not they have been vaccinated. The public deserves to know what their public servants believe when it comes to civic health matters, especially during a pandemic that has killed people in our communities.

When a politician refuses to say whether he is vaccinated, like some of our local politicians, they are either scared to publicly admit they think the vaccine is dangerous, or they are scared to admit to their conservative constituents that they believe that vaccines are the best way for our society to get close to something resembling normalcy. The idea that the vaccination status of an elected official is somehow private is both cowardly and bogus.

Given that southern Manitoba also happens to be home to some of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, it’s reasonable to assume many folks might actually be in favour of Cousins’ decision, no matter how much of a health threat he poses to his family, people in the Vikings organization and his teammates. (Would you want to have your locker next to an unvaccinated person? Would you want to be in a huddle with someone who selfishly refuses to get jabbed?)

An argument can be made that QBs have an even bigger responsibility to do the right thing, because they’re not just pro athletes, they’re the leader of their team.

Cousins’ choice to remain unvaccinated – at least as of press time; who knows what he’ll do if the team or the state of Minnesota requires people to be fully vaccinated before entering the stadium – defies logic, reason, science, medical evidence and common sense. Like all anti-vaxxers, it is an undeniably selfish decision. “I care more about me than I do about the people around me.”

Then there is pro-golfer Bryson DeChambeau, who was forced to leave the Tokyo Olympics because he had tested positive for COVID. This is a guy who has made his mark in golf by following the science of ball flight and the construction of clubs. He often brags about how he “follows the science” when it comes to his equipment, but when it comes to the health and safety of those around him, then science suddenly isn’t so important. That’s hypocrisy of the highest order.

He told the media that he is young and healthy and won’t get sick. This is proving to be very wrong with the Delta variant, which is infecting younger people than the original coronavirus. And then there’s the reality that even if he doesn’t get sick, he could unknowingly spread the virus to others who might not be young and strong. But that doesn’t seem to concern DeChambeau, who unsurprisingly is a fan of former president Donald Trump.

Like most things in life there is a flip side to this disappointing story of unbridled selfishness on the part of professional athletes refusing to do the kind and respectful and responsible thing and get vaccinated.

Here in Manitoba, sports fans will not be able to attend Bomber, Jets, Goldeyes or Moose games if they are not fully vaccinated. Bravo!

This is a good move. If people decide they don’t want to get vaccinated, if they are putting their beliefs above the health and well-being of fellow Manitobans, the people running professional sports in the province are taking a decidedly pro-health, pro-safety and pro-common sense stance.

Here’s hoping the Steinbach Pistons and every school sports team in Manitoba follows suit.

The choice is very clear: get the shot or stay home.