Should professional athletes be among the first to receive the COVID vaccine?
Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Bucks tries to reach over to catch the ball. Photo Courtesy of: ESPN
Former basketball player, Charles Barkley, believes that professional athletes, including NBA players should be the first to receive the vaccine. His reason behind this is because of taxes.
“Three hundred million shots, give a thousand to some NBA players, NFL players, hockey players,” Barkley said during Thursday’s “Inside the NBA.” “Listen, as much taxes as these players pay – let me repeat that – as much taxes as these players pay, they deserve some preferential treatment.”
However, on the other hand, health care workers believe that athletes should not be one of the first people to receive the vaccine because sports games are not a necessity at the moment during the pandemic. In fact, games that attract many in person viewers may spread the virus.
Health care workers first responders and the elderly are all in line first to get the initial doses of the coronavirus vaccine despite Barkley’s words on Thursday.
With all these different views on who and when certain people should get the vaccine, no one really knows what is going to happen when the vaccines are going to be handed out.
Lina Naranjo is a senior and the sports editor of The Jag Journal. Lina is in journalism because she loves to write. She loves to workout, meditate, and...
Kassandra Galaviz • Feb 15, 2021 at 12:53 pm
I think they should because its their job to interact with 10 or more people so I think they should for their safety.
Diego Solis • Feb 11, 2021 at 10:50 am
I personally think professional athletes should get there vaccines so they can play and entertain us. I love your story
Ashley Lam • Jan 27, 2021 at 8:23 pm
I think that professional athletes should wait some time before being given the vaccine. I do understand that all jobs are important to the provider’s family and their ability to pay rent, buy food, and pay for other necessities. Nevertheless, the Intense Care Unit (ICU) in Los Angeles and other regions within the United States is at 0% capacity while health care workers are overwhelmed with the number of patients being admitted to the hospital. I agree that healthcare workers should receive their dose of the vaccine first to ensure they are able to care for patients without contracting COVID-19. Barkley believes that 1,000 doses of the vaccine should be given to athletes, yet from what I understand, the vaccine needs to be administered twice, meaning those 1,000 doses would become enough for 500 people. Hopefully, the vaccine roll out will be fairly quick, and life can return to what was considered “normal”.