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Aaron Rodgers discusses reaction to vaccination comments: 'People are entitled to their opinion'

liz roscher
Staff writer
·3 min read

Aaron Rodgers appeared on "The Pat McAfee Show" again on Tuesday, and struck a much different tone than he did four days ago when he spoke at length about his COVID-19 diagnosis and his decision to remain unvaccinated.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback tried to stay from making the kind of controversial comments he did last week. After spending a few minutes talking about his time in quarantine and how he feels about the reactions to his recent interview, Rodgers and McAfee moved on to talking about football — including whether he'll be able to play against the Seattle Seahawks.

Rodgers discusses reaction to his COVID-19 comments

Rodgers emphasized during his segment that he has been isolating himself — physically and mentally — from what has been happening since his interview Friday. He said he used some of his time in quarantine to think about his situation, and opened his segment by acknowledging that people "felt" misled by his initial vaccination comments. Notably, his acknowledgement didn't include an apology.

"I do realize I am a role model to a lot of people," Rodgers said. "So I just want to start off the show by acknowledging that I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading. To anyone who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments."

Later in the show, Rodgers discussed the reaction to his comments about the COVID-19 vaccine. He said he hasn't been able to fully close himself off to the negative reaction, and that some of it has hurt his feelings. He admitted that he misled people, instead of putting the blame on others for "feeling misled" by his comments. However, none of that has changed what he thinks.

"I shared an opinion that is polarizing. I get it. And I mislead some people about my status, which I take full responsibility of those comments. But in the end, I have to stay true to who I am and what I'm about. And I stand behind the things that I said, and I have a ton of empathy for people who have been going through the worst part of this pandemic, which has affected all of us in different ways."

Unsurprisingly, Rodgers is fine with whatever people think about him, love or hate.

"There's gonna be people who don't like you, and hate you for things you said, or might not even understand what you said or know what you said, they might have just seen a headline. And that's fine. I believe that people are entitled to their opinion, even if it's an opinion that's unfavorable to me."

Rodgers expects to play vs. Seahawks

Rodgers was eager to move on from his vaccination comments and focus on football. Even though he told McAfee that he's feeling "really good" physically, it's still officially unknown whether Rodgers will start Sunday against the Seahawks. Rodgers said he expects to start and there's a "small possibility" that he won't.

Since Rodgers isn't allowed back into the facility until Saturday at the earliest, he said that he expects to be a virtual participant at all the team meetings this week, and doesn't believe that will affect his preparation.