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Packers QB Aaron Rodgers admits misleading media about vaccination status last season
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- Packers QB Aaron Rodgers admits misleading media about vaccination status last season
Another podcast appearance, another revelation from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers .
Appearing on "The Joe Rogan Experience" on Saturday, the conversation unsurprisingly turned to COVID-19 and Rodgers' decision not to get vaccinated.
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The four-time NFL MVP told Rogan he first applied for an exemption from the league's vaccination requirement and then asked for approval of an alternative homeopathic immunization process, which was rejected.
He then admitted he intentionally misled the media when he was asked about his vaccination status last season .
"I'd been ready the entire time for this question, and had thought about how I wanted to answer it. And I had come to the conclusion I'm gonna say, 'I've been immunized.' And if there's a follow-up, then talk about my process," Rodgers told Rogan (at the 11:35 mark of the video below).
"But, (I) thought there's a possibility that I say 'I'm immunized,' maybe they understand what that means, maybe they don't. Maybe they follow up. They didn't follow up. So then I go the season them thinking, some of them, that I was vaccinated."
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However, Rodgers did contribute to the confusion over his vaccination status by appearing at press conferences without a mask – which only vaccinated players were allowed to do.
Rodgers was later fined by the team for attending a Halloween party with 18 other teammates, all of whom were vaccinated.
Later in the season, Rodgers did test positive for COVID – he said he got it from a teammate who was fully vaccinated – and missed one game because of the league's protocols.
"I knew at some point if I contracted COVID or if word got out, because it's the NFL and there's leaks everywhere, it was possible I'd have to answer the questions," he said.
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"And that's when the (expletive) storm hit, because now I'm a liar, I'm endangering the community, my teammates, all these people. And the, you know, attempted takedown of me and, you know, my word and my integrity began."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Rodgers admits misleading media with claims of being 'immunized'
