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Take a quick look at the US Covid data and one stat will jump out at you: as of the start of October 2021, 16.5% of the adult population were completely unvaccinated. In other words, around 42.5 million people are unprotected from the virus, possible antibodies aside.
It represents a big problem for a country with such a developed vaccination program. Just how do they end the pandemic if so many people choose to not take up their doses?
If the authorities are looking to sports stars to set an example, then they may be disappointed. In the NBA, 5% of players have rejected the vaccine – and there are fears that their scepticism might have already spread to a vulnerable US public.
The WNBA’s information campaign
Large swathes of online content are built on factual data. You only have to look at the world’s biggest encyclopaedia – Wikipedia – to see millions of hours dedicated to finding the truth. On a smaller scale, scores of websites, from sites that compare credit card deals to those that search for the best lottery sites, base their findings on evidence rather than guesswork.
However, not everywhere is committed to these principles. Many ‘sources of information’ are misleading or false, whether through simple human error or a deliberate attempt to trick people. Often the authors of misinformation make money out of their material spreading among the public, or maybe they just enjoy the attention they get.
The female equivalent to the NBA, the WNBA, was quick to react to fake vaccine news. As soon as news of a scientific breakthrough came to light, they set out a plan to educate their players about the vaccine through an outreach program. Through this, players could ask questions in private for scientific experts to answer. This reduced the chance of the athletes passing on conspiracy theories to their legions of fans, many of whom idolize them and hang on their every word.
The campaign was successful. As of June this year, 99% of WNBA players were fully vaccinated; way higher than the national average, and also significantly more than the NBA and other US sporting bodies.
Anti-vax NBA stars
While the WNBA got to work, the NBA stuttered. They wasted valuable time in getting official vaccine guidelines out to its members, allowing time for misinformation to take hold and the league to become polarized – between the majority who chose to get protected, and the vocal minority who didn’t.
Part of that minority were some of the sport’s star players. Kyrie Irving, for example, is the vice president of the players’ union, a hugely influential figure. His reluctance to get the shots, citing concerns about the science behind it, will lead to many fans, and possibly fellow pros, following suit.
Bradley Beal, another important player, seemed to rate vaccines as more dangerous than Covid-19 itself, a completely false claim according to fullfact.org, while Denver Nuggets winger Michael Porter J saw no reason to get protected after contracting the virus twice, despite there being no guarantee of the body developing long-term antibodies.
It’s not just the NBA with prominent anti-vaxxers. Some of the world’s top tennis stars have shared their scepticism of the treatment. Stefano Tsisipas said it ‘hadn’t been tested enough’, while world number 1 Novak Djokovic has also stated his opposition. In soccer, many Premier League stars remain unvaccinated, including several Newcastle United players, according to manager Steve Bruce.
One theory for such widespread cynicism is that elite professionals spend a lot of time on their own, away from home with nothing to do in between matches. They’re also often obsessed with what they put into their bodies, and probably read extensively about what’s supposedly good or bad. These two factors combined might have led them to come across false vaccine material, which explains why they hold such views.
NBA’s problem is that their players have an audience of millions of fans, many of whom are impressionable youngsters who might agree that their youth protects them from the deadliest virus in over a century. Unvaccinated stars are also more likely to contract Covid and pass it on to fellow pros: the last thing any sport wants is a mass outbreak.
Mandates and callouts
The NBA anti-vaxxers have faced fierce opposition to their views, and they might have serious consequences. States such as New York and San Francisco now have local vaccination mandates, which require players to be fully inoculated before they play. If the players continue to refuse, then they could hurt their team’s chances of success.
Senior figures within the sport have also called them out, despite LeBron James, one of the greatest players of all time, stating his opposition to a mandatory vaccine. If some of the players’ idols voice their disagreement, then it’s possible they will change their minds.
However, the likely solution, like with all misinformation, is education. Fighting the anti-vax claims with scientific evidence, perhaps through dedicated programs and training courses might be the sport’s best bet. It worked for the WNBA, it might not be too late for the NBA to do the same.
