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With Covid-19 rules being relaxed in the NFL for vaccinated players, many are wondering how many players are yet to get the vaccine. Put simply, while much progress has been made, the NFL still has a way to go. Here is a breakdown of the state of the NFL when it comes to vaccinations.
The number of unvaccinated NFL players is still high
According to SB Nation, only about 50 percent of the players have been vaccinated against Covid-19. At first glance, this seems to be rather low. However, the NFL has around 2900 players right now.
But expect the number of vaccinated players to be close to 100 percent by the start of the regular season. Here is why.
Why NFL vaccination rates will jump
The NFL announced that vaccinated players can basically resume their pre-Covid lives. They do not need to wear masks, they can eat wherever they want and visit wherever they want. Meanwhile, unvaccinated players still need to socially distance themselves as much as possible, wear masks, quarantine after exposure and basically live their life the way they have been for the past 16 months or so.
Eventually, unvaccinated players will become fed up with watching all of the vaccinated players having fun from a distance. This will entice them to go get vaccinated. This process will likely take place in the first few weeks of training camp.
Since the vaccines are given in two shots and there's a three to six-week gap between them, it would take until the start of the regular season for all players to be vaccinated.
While there will be a big jump around the start of September, there will still be some holdouts. These players will be in the minority but will likely be known throughout the league. These players might be willing to live like it's 2020 in perpetuity to avoid the vaccine shots. Their only hope to return to normal is for Covid-19 to go away.
Unfortunately for the vaccine holdouts, most medical experts believe that Covid-19 is going to be around for a very long time. These players could be waiting for years. Even if herd immunity is achieved by next year, it is going to take even more time to convince the CDC to drop all recommendations, which is driving the NFL's policies.
