Many of the NBA’s top players are expressing concern about accepting invitations to participate in competition-sponsored public service announcements to bolster wider acceptance of the coronavirus vaccine, sources told ESPN.
The NBA’s contact with the agents of many of the league’s elite players – with hopes of getting stars to participate in PSAs to promote the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness – has been met with a lukewarm response, sources said. Players’ fears about receiving the vaccine match those that also exist in black communities across the country, agents and players told ESPN.
Sources describe a number of factors that contribute to many players’ reluctance to participate, including uncertainty about taking the vaccine themselves, unwillingness to advocate for its use by others, and resistance to favors in a competition in the midst of the largely unpopular plans for an All-Star Game.
During a phone call with the league’s general managers on Tuesday, Commissioner Adam Silver continued to tell top team leaders that the league would not jump “over the line” from the general public to get vaccines, but he suggested an optimistic timeline that would limit the possibility of late March and early April for the start of players’ vaccinations, sources said. Nonetheless, that’s considered a fluid timeline, largely intended to reaffirm teams that they should be prepared for any opportunity to vaccinate players from public health officials, sources said.
The NBA shared with teams an expectation of 70 million to 100 million vaccine doses likely to be distributed in mid-March.
In the hours following the phone call with the league’s GMs, Dr. Anthony Fauci – the country’s foremost infectious disease expert – told CNN that his original hope of April could become a target for wide availability of vaccines for people outside of the priority groups pushed back. .
“That timeline will likely be extended to mid to late May and early June,” Fauci told CNN.
While the league works to educate players about the benefits of the vaccine, Silver told general managers the process could be boosted for teams and individuals by relaxing quarantine and testing protocols for vaccinees, sources said. Those would be measures consistent with the CDC recommendations.
The NBA has worked to educate teams and players about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, including mandatory team seminars with Dr. Leroy Sims, the league’s senior vice president of medical affairs.
The NBA has done vaccine PSAs with Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, but there is a strong belief that the league’s top players – many of whom are black – could impact much more in Black and Brown communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the African-American community, there has been a hugely disparate impact of COVID … but now, somewhat perverse, there is massive backlash [to vaccinations] in the African American community for understandable historical reasons, “Silver said recently.” If that resistance continues, it would be a double whammy for the black community, as the only way out of this pandemic is to get vaccinated. “
Dr. Sims told ESPN on Wednesday that he has completed 20 presentations to individual teams about the benefits of the vaccines and expects to meet nearly all 30 teams by Monday. Dr. Sims said he approached the player presentations with an emphasis on the scientific and data-based findings about the vaccines – and the potential good being achieved by supporting their use among the wider community.
“I tried to address misinformation – that the development process was speeded up, that the vaccine could alter genetics, that the trials lacked diversity,” Sims said. “I’m asked, ‘If I make this recording, will it affect my performance?’ I went through them to see what the results were about the different types of vaccines, and I conclude with the benefits of the vaccination.
“I can tell you that these guys are listening based on questions that I get. They also ask,” Why would we get this if there hasn’t been much time to see what the long-term effects are? “These guys are looking at data all the time. I know they’re getting the data and calling on them at that level.
“When it comes to vaccinations, all the long-term (problems) with vaccinations, historically you see a tendency to see in the first few months. In March last year, shots started to fall in people’s arms, so we already have a treasure. of data and we will continue to collect it.
“When I talk about leadership, I’m referring to fighting health inequalities and role models, increasing community service, showing our support for public health and sound medical data and science. Our players are extremely advanced and they see what i ask.
One of the elite players in the league said to me, ‘Dr. Sims, what you ask is that we become spokespersons? My answer was: Absolutely. Yes, we want you to be a spokesperson. We want you to work with us.
“But it’s multiple. Right now they can’t get injections, but they can still show support to parents or grandparents who are now getting their vaccines; and when the time comes, they can show their support by speaking up and talking to people. telling them they “got it – or showing pictures of those who get it. It will be a huge benefit if some of our players publicly support this because their actions, their words, weigh heavily in the community.”
The NBA has lost 30 games this season to virus-related postponements, and concerns remain about the short- and long-term health impacts for infected players. The NBA playoffs are scheduled for May 22, and fears of positive tests or outbreaks derailing a post-season are part of the motivation to get as many players and staff members vaccinated as soon as possible.