An NBA plan to promote the COVID-19 vaccination through sponsored public service announcements with many of the league’s biggest stars has allegedly met an obstacle.
Many of the league’s top players are expressing concern about promoting the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Among the factors reported behind the unenthusiastic response are uncertainty about getting the vaccine, reluctance to force others to get it, and a lack of desire to do favors for a league that pushed for an All-Star Game against the will of many of your stars.
The NBA still made vaccine PSAs, but with Hall of Famer coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, rather than any active players. The hope is that the endorsement of these players will have much more impact on black communities that have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
NBA players worried about vaccine’s performance impact
Amid the push for PSAs, the league allegedly instituted mandatory team seminars with Dr. Leroy Sims, the NBA’s senior vice president of medical affairs, with the goal of educating players about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Sims reportedly told ESPN that he has completed 20 team presentations and expects to meet with virtually all 30 teams by Monday. The presentations emphasize the data and science behind the vaccine, and the potential benefit that can be done by endorsing its use.
The reception to the presentations so far seems to have been solid, even with the Sims pressing against the misinformation about the vaccine.
From ESPN:
“I tried to deal with the misinformation – that the development process was rushed, that the vaccine can alter the genetics, that the tests lacked diversity,” said Sims. “I get the question, ‘If I get this photo, will it affect my performance?’ I talked to them about the results, about the different types of vaccine, and concluded with the benefits of vaccination.
“I can say that these guys are listening based on the questions I’m getting. They also ask, ‘Why should we do this if there was not much time to see what the long-term effects are?’ These guys look at the data all the time. I know that they get the data and are attractive to them at that level.
“When it comes to vaccines, any long term [issues] with vaccines, you have historically tended to see them in the first few months. The photos started to go into people’s arms in March last year, so we already have a treasure trove of data and we continue to collect it.
NBA players mirror the black community with skepticism
NBA stars being skeptical of the vaccine is not an aberration of the black community’s overall response.
A December survey found that only 42% of black Americans said they would definitely or probably be vaccinated, compared with 63% of Hispanic adults, 61% of white adults and 83% of Asian Americans. This is despite the fact that 71% of black respondents in the same survey say they know someone who has been hospitalized or died of coronavirus, more than all other groups.
There are many factors behind this apprehension, the least of which is a brutal history of medical abuse against the black community. Still, NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke of the importance of improving vaccine acceptance.
From ESPN:
“In the African American community, there has been an extremely disparate impact from COVID … but now, somewhat perversely, there has been enormous resistance [to vaccinations] in the African American community for understandable historical reasons, “Silver said recently.” If that resistance continues, it would be a double blow to the black community, because the only way out of this pandemic is to get vaccinated. “
Silver told general managers that teams could be encouraged to get the vaccine by decreasing quarantine and testing protocols.
More from Yahoo Sports: