Photo via Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons, @Bease11/Twitter
June 21, 2021, 1:57 pm
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley recently announced on social media that he will not be getting the COVID-19 vaccine and will refuse to follow NFL protocols for unvaccinated players even if it means he has to pay hefty fines or quit the league entirely. The football player justified this with the usual selfish anti-vaxxer spiel showing how little he understands about how viruses spread and how easily he could cause someone’s death by refusing to get a little shot or two or get tested regularly and wear a mask.
Featured Video
Hide
“I will be outside doing what I do,” Beasley wrote. “I’ll be out in the public. If your [sic] scared of me then steer clear, or get vaccinated. Point. Blank. Period. I may die of covid, but I’d rather die actually living.”
Advertisement
Hide
“I don’t play for the money anymore. My family has been taken care of. Fine me if you want. My way of living and my values are more important to me than a dollar.”
The first fine for breaking unvaccinated protocols will actually be $50,000, and likely more after that. But Beasley says he will play for free if it means he gets the privilege of being able to run around possibly exposing others to the virus who are not as healthy as a professional football player. People with compromised immune systems and other health issues may not be able to get the vaccine, and every other person who declines to do so even though they could puts them at risk. No amount of exercise, eating better, or drinking water can fix often genetic conditions that weaken the immune system.
What Beasley doesn’t seem to understand is that not everyone’s family is “taken care of” because most people don’t get millions of dollars for playing a sport game and some of their loved ones could still die alone in a hospital bed or suffer long term fatigue and severe brain fog, forcing them into early retirement as well. The coronavirus can linger in spit particles in the air even after Beasley had left the area, so his warning to “steer clear” may not be as effective as he thinks.
Somehow, at the same time, Beasley seems to think that the fact that the COVID vaccine isn’t 100 percent effective is also a reason to avoid getting it because it was also unlikely that he would get into the NFL.
Advertisement
Hide
Beasley has also been criticized for encouraging other Americans to decline the vaccine with his little announcement. The U.S. has currently vaccinated just 55 percent of its adult population — far short of the threshold needed for there to be any chance of herd immunity that would protect the people who are not able to get the vaccine. Some states are trying to boost their numbers by making vaccinated residents eligible to win prizes, but this is unlikely to have much effect on people refusing it for their supposed principles.
Those of us who have done our part or who remain at risk of death by COVID for reasons outside of our control are understandably upset with the football guy.
Advertisement
Hide
*First Published: June 21, 2021, 1:57 pm
0 Comments