Amid a new surge in coronavirus fearmongering, the NFL‘s recently announced vaccination policies could create even more disruptions to the upcoming football season than its mitigation efforts did during the topsy-turvy 2020 season.
Here’s more from today’s memo, which also says the team responsible for a canceled game because of an outbreak among unvaccinated players/staff will be responsible for financial losses and subject to potential discipline from the commissioner. Wow. pic.twitter.com/Q86a2WcG1K
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 22, 2021
In an apparent bid to use peer-pressure to coerce anti-vaccine players, the league had announced previously that it would single out unvaccinated team members for a spate of degrading restrictions: limiting their travel, workouts and ability to gather socially with teammates, as well as imposing over-the-top masking demands.
On Thursday, amid a brewing debate amongst players and team owners about whether to comply with the policies, the league issued a new memo threatening to hold objectors responsible for any outbreaks that occurred, ESPN reported.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said teams who were forced to delay a game due to an outbreak among unvaccinated players would forfeit the game and be credited with a loss rather than allowing the games to be rescheduled.
Both teams and players also would be on the hook for financial losses and would be subject to additional disciplinary actions, Goodell threatened.
In response, at least one top player openly pondered retirement.
“Never thought I would say this, but being put in a position to hurt my team because I don’t want to partake in the vaccine is making me question my future in the NFL,” said all-pro wide-receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a Twitter statement.
Hopkins, who was traded to the Arizona Cardinals during the off-season, created a stir by suggesting he might walk away from professional football rather than submit either to the experimental, RNA-altering shot or to the unreasonable restrictions.
Other players, including Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley, have also been outspoken opponents of the vaccine.
Public Service Announcement pic.twitter.com/XjQicdvnKm
— Cole Beasley (@Bease11) June 18, 2021
However, Hopkins—still at the peak of his promising career after several banner seasons with the Houston Texans—is the highest-impact player thus far to speak out.
They love you one minute then hate you the next! Know thyself. https://t.co/aNKbgO5NSK
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) July 22, 2021
Nonetheless, he sent follow-up signals indicating that he would fold under pressure—including that of the woke NFL Players Association, which announced its support for withholding the salaries of players who failed to comply with vaccine mandates.
Here’s the reality. In any union, the majority rules. In the NFLPA, the majority of the players already have gotten vaccinated. So that’s that.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 22, 2021
“The only difference this year is the NFL’s decision to impose additional penalties on clubs which are responsible for the outbreak and the availability of proven vaccines,” the NFLPA said in a letter Thursday. “The protocols we jointly agreed to helped get us through a full season last year without missing game checks and are effective, when followed.”
Had he chosen to retire early, Hopkins would’ve owed the Cardinals $22 million in unearned signing bonus money, MSN reported.
He appeared to put the rumors to rest with a follow-up tweet.
Btw I got about 9 more years in me, y’all have a good day ?
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) July 22, 2021
FANS’ FUTURE UNCERTAIN?
With financial factors forcing the acquiescence of players and team owners—including maverick, anti-woke Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who voiced his vaccination support this week—the future for unvaccinated fans remains uncertain.
As of July 20, only 49% of Americans have been fully vaccinated, although the Biden administration’s open-borders policies could mean considerably more non-citizens living in America remain unprotected.
Another 8% of Americans have received a single dose of one of the two-dose vaccines offered by Pfizer and Moderna.
The figures do not take into account those who gained natural immunity from antibodies after having already contracted the virus, and others who may be biologically impervious to it for yet-unknown reasons.
But regardless of questions over who is/isn’t at risk from future outbreaks, public interest in the vaccines has hit a clear plateau.
According to a poll from The Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, most of those who remain unvaccinated have no desire to receive the vaccine.
“Among American adults who have not yet received a vaccine, 35% say they probably will not, and 45% say they definitely will not,” the AP reported.
“Just 3% say they definitely will get the shots, though another 16% say they probably will,” it continued.
Skeptics cite a litany of reasons, most of them related to reservations the potential negative side-effects of the vaccines, as well as doubts about the actual risks of the virus for large swaths of the population under age 65.
A significant portion of the holdouts (64%) also expressed little confidence that the vaccines actually worked, the AP noted.
The Biden administration and others—mostly on the Left—have begun aggressive coercion measures to boost the number after falling well short of a self-imposed benchmark to vaccinate 70% of the population by July 4.
Among the proposals are a propaganda/censorship campaign, both to promote the vaccines and simultaneously mute the skeptics.
Scaremongering tactics have included hyping a spike in cases from deadly “mutant” strains, such as the delta variant, although there is little indication that mortality rates have risen with the latest outbreak.
The Biden administration also alarmingly threatened to use door-to-door “strike forces” to intimidate citizens into submission, but it later clarified that the campaign would rely on left-wing activist groups who already were engaged in their own canvassing efforts.
Nonetheless, few doubt that the pressure will continue to bear down as the Democrat administration scrambles to produce some tangible show of progress, or else to assert new forms of compliance with the untamed masses.
Looming on the horizon could be a major showdown over schools, where some insist that children—who face minimal risk from the virus—must continue to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.
Cultural events, such as concerts and sports, will be another battlefront. While the NFL likely will attempt to impose similar rules on vaccination for fans as it did on players and teams, the bottom-line profit margin will ultimately reign supreme if turnout proves to be impacted by the restrictions.
