NBA players have concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccine, league set to address scepticism

The NBA is set to hold mandatory meetings this weekend amidst scepticism from players and coaches regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. The meeting will see Dr. Leroy Sims, the NBA’s senior vice president of medical affairs, interact with all 30 franchises to promote greater understanding and awareness regarding league-wide and public vaccination initiatives. The NBA wants its basketball people including players, coaches, referees and chief front office personnel to get the shots, potentially as part of a national volunteering-public relations campaign. 

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NBA Covid vaccine: League to hold mandatory meeting after players, coaches show reluctance 

In a report by The Athletic, Dr Leroy Sims is educating teams on the coronavirus vaccine. There has been scepticism, especially among the African-American players regarding the vaccine, because of past instances of government's vaccination incidents, especially the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. The report states that Sims will express his experience as an emergency medicine physician during the COVID-19 pandemic and his COVID-19 vaccination.

The NBA has already released a series of commercials through its “NBA Cares” platform encouraging people to get vaccinated, with 73-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 86-year-old Bill Russell and 72-year-old Gregg Popovich featuring in the spots. According to a poll of 12,648 people conducted in November, just 42 per cent of Black people intended to get the vaccine when it became available.

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Public health experts across the globe say the way out of the coronavirus pandemic is through a combination of vaccinating large portions of the population and by maintaining public health measures such as testing, contract tracing, wearing masks and washing hands and keeping distance. Speaking to The Athletic, a variety of players and coaches mentioned their lingering doubts over getting vaccinated but remained anonymous to speak freely about a sensitive subject inside locker rooms. NBA commissioner Adam Silver had previously mentioned that if some high-profile African-Americans in the NBA received the COVID-19 vaccine, there could be greater awareness. 

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The league is coming off its best week in quite a while on the COVID front, with no positive tests among the 482 players tested from January 27 through Wednesday. The NBA health and safety protocols were tightened to play through the ongoing pandemic, including heightened mask requirements (with safer masks required), a ban on pre-or post-game interactions that involved contact and complete separation from anyone outside of team personnel while a team is traveling. The move came in after 21 games were postponed in January, with multiple rosters seriously depleted. Meeting with Dr. Sims is just the first step in the league’s push for vaccines, with the organisations ordered to email the NBA’s front office detailing who attended it. 

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(Image Courtesy: nba.com)