Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he’s in the “crosshairs of the woke mob” after it emerged he had contracted COVID-19 and appeared to mislead the public that he had been vaccinated.
"I'm not an anti-vaxx, flat-earther.. I have an allergy to an ingredient that's in the mRNA vaccines. I found a long term immunization protocol to protect myself & I'm very proud of the research that went into that" ~@AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/FDMmI5rZmO
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 5, 2021
When the NFL announced on Wednesday that Rodgers would not be playing in the Packers’ Sunday showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs due to a positive coronavirus test, some began to speculate that he “lied” about being vaccinated when he said he was “immunized.”
Speaking about the circumstances for the first time on Friday, Rodgers told sports podcaster Pat McAfee: “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.”
Rodgers said he “didn’t lie in the initial press conference” because he had gone through an “immunization regime” but that he also didn’t say he wasn’t vaccinated because the NFL had at the time a “witch hunt that was going on across the league” for anyone who opposed the vaccine mandate .
He said that if he had been pressed on his vaccination status by the media, he would have said: “I’m not some sort of anti-vax flat-earther. I’m somebody who’s a critical thinker. You guys know me. I march to the beat of my own drum. I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body and not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture where a crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something.”
Rodgers explained that he decided not to get vaccinated because he was allergic to one of the ingredients in the Pfizer and Moderna formulas and that he knew people who had bad side effects from the Johnson & Johnson shot. He said he consulted medical experts to make an immunization regimen that took several months. He also said he consulted with podcaster Joe Rogan, who has been outspoken against vaccines and revealed in September he treated himself with ivermectin after contracting COVID-19.
He also blasted the NFL’s treatment of unvaccinated players as “draconian” and “not based on science.”