WFT coach Ron Rivera has vaccine scientist speak with team; Montez Sweat unmoved

With less than half of his players vaccinated for the COVID-19 coronavirus, Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera enlisted some help this week with messaging that he hopes will increase the numbers.

Kizzmekia S. Corbett, who was instrumental in research that led to the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and recently joined Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, spoke to Washington players on Tuesday night.

“She was outstanding,” Rivera said during a Zoom conference following a minicamp practice on Wednesday. “Our players were engaged, they asked a lot of good questions and off of that, we had several guys that are getting vaccinated and have gotten vaccinated because of that. Again, I think the big thing is we’ve got to be able to facilitate the opportunity for these guys to understand.

Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera watched Wednesday morning's minicamp. (Photo: Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports)

“There’s a lot of messaging out there, they get it off of Twitter and some of it is good, some of it is bad. I’m not sure these guys watch the news as much as I do and try to gather enough information, but we are really trying to help them, because if we can get to that herd immunity, we can really cut it loose and really be able to spend time with each other.”

Rivera said every member of the coaching staff and all employees at team headquarters are vaccinated. After getting through last season’s strict pandemic protocols, he is encouraged by the face-to-face contact with players in the meeting rooms and on the practice field as the league opens back up with fewer limitations. Yet asked to put a percentage on player vaccinations, he said, “I think we are nearing 50 percent,” which included a few vaccinations on Tuesday.

It doesn’t seem like an easy sell for players who have yet to be vaccinated. Washington defensive end Montez Sweat, despite the message delivered from Corbett, still isn’t convinced he needs to be vaccinated.

“I’m not a fan of it at all,” Sweat said during a post-practice Zoom conference. “I won’t get vaccinated until I get more facts.”

Never mind the havoc on society caused by the novel coronavirus, which included a disrupted NFL season.

“I haven’t caught COVID yet,” Sweat said, “so I don’t see me treating COVID until I actually get COVID.”

And therein lies another challenge for the NFL to navigate.

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