Rodgers isn’t just any soccer participant. Final 12 months he was named the Nationwide Soccer League’s most useful participant for the third time. He has hosted “Jeopardy,” and he has 4.5 million followers on Twitter.
“Any very public determine who initially, is duplicitous, after which makes misstatements definitely is opposite to what we’re attempting to realize from a public well being perspective,” stated Dr. William Schaffner, professor of drugs on the Vanderbilt College Faculty of Medication. “And we’d all of us who’re in public well being, I believe I can communicate for my colleagues throughout the nation, assume that that is very unlucky.”
Rodgers spoke on the radio present once more this week. He stated he took “full duty” for “anyone who felt misled” by his feedback, however Rodgers did not attempt to appropriate something he stated earlier.
That, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta stated, was “very irresponsible” as a result of “he provides a number of voice both deliberately or to not the anti-vaccine motion. At a time after we’re nonetheless in the midst of a pandemic, over 1,000 individuals are nonetheless dying of this illness” every day in america, Gupta stated on CNN this week.
Rodgers repeated a number of the commonest misinformation concerning the vaccines and coverings which might be circulating across the nation, stated CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, calling it a kind of “finest hits” of all of the bogus claims.
“What he is saying is a synthesis of all the foremost myths and misinformation, and it is as if we had been writing a information on combating misinformation,” Wen stated.
“These are issues which might be frequent myths,” Wen stated. “However when it is repeated by somebody with this stage of movie star and affect, it is vitally harmful.”
Some even ponder whether or not the media are perpetuating Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation by persevering with to jot down and speak about what Rodgers stated.
“A part of the problem, whether or not it is Aaron Rodgers or any person else, is that the feedback on it and protection of it additional amplifies the message,” stated Sandra Crouse Quinn, chair of the Division of Household Science on the College of Maryland.
Scientists and public well being officers haven’t got the capability to succeed in thousands and thousands of individuals, as Rodgers can, Quinn stated.
“So it is like an uneven battle in some ways,” she stated, mentioning that Rodgers’ followers comply with him as a result of he is a good soccer participant. “Would you go to a shoemaker to, I do not know, get your tooth pulled, since you actually like him and he is a fantastic shoemaker?”
Survey reveals misinformation is widespread
“Finally, this comes right down to worry. Many individuals are scared. They’re scared due to what they’ve heard concerning the vaccine,” Wen stated. “They do not know what to imagine. And when you’ve got somebody who’s influential, like Aaron Rodgers, says issues which might be unfaithful, it would find yourself validating individuals’s selections to stay unvaccinated.”
In Wisconsin, the place the Packers are situated, simply 55.1% of the inhabitants has been absolutely vaccinated.
“He is able to essentially encourage the state of Wisconsin and the nation at giant to get vaccinated. As a substitute of furthering this this divide, let’s open doorways,” Neitzel stated.
The truth that Rodgers misled individuals in August by saying he was “immunized” was some of the placing issues about his latest admission that he’s unvaccinated, medical doctors say.
“Immunized has a really particular that means,” Schaffner stated. “It is within the dictionary. It doesn’t suggest some nonspecific safety.”
“I am reminded of the late senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who famously at one level stated everybody’s entitled to their very own opinion however to not their very own info,” Schaffner stated. “He stated a sequence of issues that had been, purely from a scientific perspective, factually incorrect. I imply, this professor marks these solutions improper. Minus 10 on the examination.”
And a number of the “therapies” Rodgers talked about could possibly be dangerous, Schaffner stated.
Rodgers bought one factor proper when advised the radio present host that “hate is not going to carry us out of this pandemic.”
However there’s one factor that properly might: vaccines, scientists say.
