We’ll soon find out whether Aaron Rodgers has been immunized from an attack by the Swifties.
Appearing with Pat McAfee, Rodgers snidely referred to Chiefs tight end/Taylor Swift love interest Travis Kelce as “Mr. Pfizer.” Kelce appears in a new COVID vaccine commercial, which advocates getting both the COVID shot and the flu shot at the same time.
The irony in the not-so-subtle derision from Rodgers is that he currently collects a healthy weekly paycheck from Woody Johnson, an heir of Johnson & Johnson. Appearing previously with McAfee, Rodgers suggested that the Big Pharma triumvirate of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson cajoled the sports media to vilify Rodgers for his anti-science stance.
Amazingly, Rodgers has never been asked a single question by anyone about the apparent hypocrisy from his anti-science stance and his employment by a Big Pharma heir. Not one. Not ever. And since he won’t face a press conference for months, he likely never will be (especially given the kid gloves the New York media has applied to him since the moment he was traded to the Jets.).
It’s fine if Rodgers believes the COVID vaccine (or any other vaccine) isn’t for him. It became a problem for others only when he lied about his status at a time when it was a fairly important subject for the league and those who cover it. But why do he (and others who reject the COVID vaccine) feel compelled to advocate so loudly for others to reject science, too?
Personally, I got all the shots, for two important reasons. One, I have Crohn’s disease and other autoimmune disorders. I did not want to find out the hard way that COVID would react with my compromised immune system in a way that might, you know, kill me. Second, my wife takes care of her elderly parents. We wanted to protect them as best we could against getting it and/or dying from it, as more than a million other Americans have.
And while the vaccines don’t protect you from getting it, they protect against serious illness. I recovered fairly quickly. If I had never been vaccinated, who knows? (I know, some of you get very excited by that prospect.)
Regardless, it was my choice. Rodgers made his choice. And no one refers to him as Johnny Ivermectin.
Maybe Kelce should.
Better yet, maybe Taylor Swift should. Possibly in a song.