PATRICK POLLARD
Special to The Leader
As we enter the last quarter of 2021, we are approaching the start of a brand new NFL season which is very exciting. In the modern days of COVID-19 and the increasing Delta variant cases, many of us are wondering what that means for the season.
With the start of this season, there is something special happening. All three vaccines are readily available for everyone. With this you would think the players of our favorite game would get it to keep the games active throughout the year, but that’s where you’d be wrong.
Even though the Pfizer vaccine is FDA approved, the NFL has had trouble passing a player mandate for the vaccine, making it difficult for them to get some players vaccinated.
This is where a problem emerges, as according to the NFL’s research on the first three weeks of August, there is only a 0.3% infection rate in vaccinated players, whereas unvaccinated players are at a rate of 2.2%. This is seven times higher than that of the players who are vaccinated.
While the risk of a shutdown of the league is little, players like Josh Allen who are not vaccinated may cost their team (and your fantasy team) important games due to their doubts. Yet through all this gloom there is a light shining through, as the league has proposed weekly tests for unvaccinated individuals, rather than bi-weekly.
To go even further, they have proposed making the vaccine mandatory for all players, according to Larry Ferazani. So while maybe right now things aren’t looking too good, hopefully within these next few months we will be able to watch our Sunday football without the interference of COVID-19.