Lamar Jackson’s Vaccine Status: Ravens QB Remains Coy on COVID-19 Vaccination Stance
Lamar Jackson is a Heisman Trophy winner, and quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. As the Ravens quarterback, Jackson has put up impressive numbers over his career. He was drafted in 2018, and then stepped in when the Ravens then-quarterback was injured. Over the course of that season, Jackson and his team clinched the AFC North and went to the playoffs. He was the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the playoffs. The next season — his first full season as starter — he was unanimously voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. Lately, though, fans have been wondering about an entirely different statistic: What is Lamar Jackson’s vaccination status?
Lamar Jackson has had COVID-19 twice
Jackson has reportedly had the virus twice. He missed a game last year because he had tested positive for COVID-19. On Nov. 26, 2020, Jackson tested positive and was placed on a reserve/COVID-19 list. He missed the Week 12 game that season.
He was back as of Dec. 7, 2020, and played Week 13 against the Dallas Cowboys. The Ravens won that game decisively.
Earlier this year, Jackson missed the first week of training camp after testing positive for COVID-19 again.
Getting COVID-19 twice has fans wondering if Jackson has been vaccinated.
What is Lamar Jackson’s vaccination status?
The NFL has encouraged that all players get vaccinated. Most players have been forthright about their vaccination status, but Lamar Jackson remains coy about his.
That first week of Ravens training camp, which Jackson missed due to COVID-19, was in late July 2021. That casts some doubt on his vaccination status, of course. According to Sports Illustrated, Jackson has said, “I want to keep that between me and my family and the doctors. That’s all.” There have been reports that he did get vaccinated, but that remains unconfirmed.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh says that 90 percent of Ravens players are vaccinated. Until that number is 100 percent, or until Jackson confirms that he has had the vaccine, we can’t be sure that the quarterback has been vaccinated.
Harbaugh went on to say that he doesn’t expect the kind of delays and interruptions that the NFL saw in 2020. “I think we’re in good shape,” he says.
The NFL has a high vaccination rate
Sports Illustrated says that 93 percent of all NFL players are vaccinated. Some teams report a 100 percent vaccination rate among their players. There’s a reason for it. In 2020, numerous games had to be postponed because too many people have COVID-19. Those outbreaks cost the league millions — perhaps billions — in lost revenue, on top of all the headache of rescheduling games.
The NFL decided to take measures to prevent that sort of loss for 2021. In July, the NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams that didn’t directly encourage players to get the vaccine, but certainly had that effect. The memo stated that the 2021 season will be completed as scheduled, and no accommodations will be made for teams that cannot play because of players who are sick with COVID-19. If a team cannot play, they forfeit the game. In addition, the forfeiting team has to cover any losses and no players on that team get paid.
When losses could be in the millions, and with paychecks on the line, it’s definitely an incentive for players to get vaccinated. The Atlanta Falcons was the first team to announce that they had 100 percent of players vaccinated. Coach Bruce Arians of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers also announced that all of their players were vaccinated.
