Kareem Abdul-Jabbar encourages sports stars to promote COVID-19 vaccinations

Former NBA star and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has encouraged sports stars to use their platforms and influence to promote Covid-19 vaccinations.

Abul-Jaffar, on Monday, told news outlet CNBC that he recently received vaccination shots and believes that the league can get more people to receive their shots by creating more awareness.

“From what I’ve seen, the vaccination is much less worse than the virus,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “So we have to get as many people vaccinated as possible. And I hope every effort toward that end is fruitful.”

U.S President Joe Biden aims to administer 100 million Covid-19 vaccine shots within his first 100 days in office. The former NBA star also said it was of utmost importance for all communities to get vaccinated, especially the Black communities. But he mentioned the understandable mistrust for the vaccine among Black communities, considering the history around the Tuskegee Experiment.

In 1932, in Tuskegee, Alabama, Black men were administered placebos as treatment for syphilis. This lasted for over 40 years, until 1972 when the Associated Press reported that the government allowed these men to go untreated, knowing fully well that the treatment for the disease was penicillin.

“That took a terrible toll on the issue of trust with the Black community. We have to overcome that, and we have to get past that moment. The more people who can get on board with promoting the vaccinations will definitely help change that and put that in a positive light,” Abdul-Jabbar said.”

In the NBA COVID-19 January report, the association revealed 11 new players tested positive for the virus. There is no doubt that the players will get vaccinated, however, Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t believe the athletes should get preferential access to vaccinations.

“I don’t think you can move people out of the line, so to speak, to let sports stars get to the front of the line,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “But anyone who has a following in our great country can do a great job of getting people to understand that they need to be vaccinated ASAP. And I don’t think there is any problem with that.”

The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also emphasized that the league “won’t jump the line in any form whatsoever” to get Covid-19 vaccine shots. The CDC has given placed top priority on its list to frontline workers, the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions. It is still unclear whether the NBA will make it voluntary or mandatory for players to receive the vaccine.

There are currently mixed feelings among NBA coaches and players about the vaccine. Some are of the opinion of receiving the vaccine before essential health workers while others insist on waiting to see how other people react to the vaccine. Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers said that the Black community had strong reservations about the vaccines, referring to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study of 1932 to 1972.

“When you look at how the COVID-19 has hit the African-American community and communities of color in such a big way, we just said, ‘If we can help send a message to build trust and help people stop and do research and get the vaccine,’ that would be great,” said Cynt Marshall, Dallas Mavericks CEO. “That’s what we’re trying to do. We made a personal decision to do this because we are concerned about how many people are dying from COVID-19, how this is really impacting the African-American community.”