TAMPA (WFLA) – Two days after reports announced Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 and would be missing Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs due to him being unvaccinated, Rodgers told his side of the story.
He joined the Pat McAfee Show on Friday to discuss his reasoning for being unvaccinated and his issues with the backlash he has received.
“I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now,” Rodgers said. “So, before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I think I would like to set the record straight on so many of the blatant lies that are out there about myself.”
Rodgers said he spoke with his good friend Joe Rogan on how to recover from COVID-19.
Rogan had previously said he tested positive following a show in Tampa and said he took “all kinds of meds,” including monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin (a medication not approved to treat COVID-19), Z-Pak and prednisone. He also got a NAD drip and a vitamin drip three days in a row.
Rodgers claimed to have done his own research and that he has an allergy to an ingredient in the mRNA Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, and sought alternative treatments for “what was best for my body.”
“I’m not an anti-vax, flat-earther. I have an allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines. I found a long-term immunization protocol to protect myself and I’m very proud of the research that went into that,” Rodgers said.
He said with some of the public issues involving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — clotting issues and his “hearing of multiple people who had had adverse events around getting the J&J … the J&J shot was not even an option at that point.”
His research led him to a treatment he did not detail, and he said the NFL was aware of the treatment protocol he was using, which took “multiple months.”
“I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body, not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture or crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something. Health is not a one-size-fits-all for everybody,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers approached the NFLPA during the summer seeking approval of the treatment he took, details of which have not been made public. Dr. Thom Mayer, the union’s medical director, consulted with Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, and with infectious disease consultants jointly agreed upon by the NFL and the union.
“The league was fully aware of it upon my return to the Packers (in August),” Rodgers said. “It was at that point that I petitioned them to accept my immunization under their vaccination protocol.”
That petition and a subsequent appeal were denied.
“And I also said, how come there’s no exemption for medical exemptions, religious exemptions, pre-existing conditions?,” Rodgers added. “And they basically said those are all basically exempted but you would be put in the non-vaccinated category.”
The NFL coronavirus protocols were developed in conjunction with CDC guidelines and independent infectious disease experts.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.