Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers says he didn’t lie, details decision to not get vaccinated

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers said he did not lie when discussing his vaccination status, has followed almost all protocols for unvaccinated players and explained his reasoning for not getting one of the traditional COVID-19 vaccines before this season.

Rodgers tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, is considered unvaccinated by the NFL and is in a 10-day minimum quarantine that will keep him out of the Green Bay Packers’ game Sunday at the Kansas City Chiefs.

In a 46-minute appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said he is allergic to an ingredient in two of the three approved vaccines — the ones produced by Moderna and Pfizer, known as mRNA vaccines. He confirmed that he underwent a treatment designed to raise his immunity and appealed the NFL to be considered vaccinated but lost that appeal.

“I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body, not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture or crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something,” Rodgers said during a lengthy rebuttal to what he suggested was misinformation reported over the past several days. “Health is not a one-size-fits-all for everybody and for me it involved a lot of study in the offseason.”

When asked in August whether he was vaccinated, Rodgers said, “Yeah, I’ve been immunized.”

“First of all, I didn’t lie in the initial press conference,” Rodgers said Friday. “During that time, it was a witch hunt that was going on across the league, where everybody in the media was so concerned about who was vaccinated and who wasn’t and what that meant and who was being selfish and who would talk about it, what it meant if they said it’s a personal decision and they shouldn’t have to disclose their own medical information.

“And at the time, my plan was to say that I have been immunized. It wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie. It was the truth, and I’ll get into the whole immunization in a second. But had there been a follow up to my statement that…