NFL star Lamar Jackson undecided on vaccine after second COVID-19 bout
(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 10, 2021, Quarterback Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. – Jackson, the NFL’s 2019 Most Valuable Player, was activated August6, 2021, off the Covid-19 reserve list following his second bout with the deadly virus. The Ravens expect Jackson to join pre-season workouts this weekend after his return to the team facility on Friday following a 10-day absence. (Photo by ANDY LYONS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, back with the NFL club after a second bout of COVID-19, remained non-committal on Monday when it came to getting vaccinated for the deadly virus.
The 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player, who missed a game last season and the start of pre-season workouts this month with COVID-19, said he needed to talk to teammates, relatives and medical experts about vaccination.
“I just got off the Covid list,” Jackson said after a team workout.
“I got to talk to my team about this and see how they feel about it, keep learning as much as I can about it. We’ll go from there.”
When asked if he has considered being vaccinated for Covid-19, Jackson replied, “We’ll see. Talking to the doctors. We’ll see.”
Pressed that his status could hurt the Ravens as they seek a fourth consecutive playoff appearance, Jackson switched the focus to family and his own recovery.
“I feel it’s a personal decision,” Jackson said.
“I’m just going to keep my feelings to my family and myself. I’m focused on getting better right now. I can’t dwell on that right now … how everybody else feels. Just trying to get back to the right routine.”
The 24-year-old signal caller, a run-pass threat who has lost three of his four playoff starts, said he was frustrated at testing positive for Covid-19 last week.
“It was crazy,” Jackson said. “I was heartbroken. Because I wasn’t looking forward to that at all, right before camp, it was like, ‘Not again. Not right now.’ But it’s over with.”
Jackson was first infected last November during an outbreak among Ravens players that forced postponement of a game against Pittsburgh, one Baltimore eventually played with a depleted lineup.
This time, Jackson was isolating while his teammates began training for the season that begins next month.
“When I was at home I wasn’t doing too good because I was missing my guys,” Jackson said.
