President Joe Biden's visit to Kentucky on Wednesday after deadly tornadoes caused massive devastation there did not stop his push against vaccine hesitancy.
Cameras captured the president greeting a woman in a Green Bay Packers jacket and hat with a call for NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
"Tell that quarterback he's got to get the vaccine," Biden told the unnamed Packers fan, as shown in video shared on social media.
She responded with nods and laughs.
Rodgers was embroiled in controversy after telling a reporter over the summer he was "immunized" before it was revealed he was not vaccinated, and therefore subject to different NFL return-to-participation protocols.
Amid the ensuing firestorm, Rodgers said he was "not an anti-vax, flat earther" but a "critical thinker" who was taking in scientific information on his decision not to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The circumstances put him in 10-day quarantine, costing him one game of the 17-game, 18-week NFL season.
Amid widespread criticism, Rodgers denounced what he called attacks from the "woke mob."
"I realize I'm in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now, so before the final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I'd like to set the record straight on some of the blatant lies that are out there about me now," Rodgers told the "Pat McAfee Show."
He said he has an allergy to an ingredient in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, and he said his decision to seek alternative treatments was "what was best for my body."
"I found that there was an immunization protocol that I could go to to best protect myself and my teammates, and it was a long-term protocol that involved multiple months," Rodgers said. "I'm very proud of the research that went into that. The individual that I met with ... we thought that it was what's best for me."
Rodgers denounced the NFL vaccination protocols, saying they lacked the science his own research revealed.
"In my opinion, they weren't based on science," he said. "They were more based in a shame-based environment to try and get as many guys vaccinated as possible so the league looks better to the rest of the world.
"They're trying to shame and out and cancel all of us not-vaccinated people, call us selfish," he added. "I mean, that's the propaganda line, too, that you're selfish for making a decision that's in the best interest of your body."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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