Lamar Jackson’s list of accomplishments is remarkably long for a 24-year-old: The 2016 Heisman Trophy winner, now the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, has been hailed as one of the most thrilling offensive players in the game, having been named the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player in his first full season as a starter. Lightning fast and elusive, with a rocket launcher for an arm, he is not only a joy to watch on the field, but for many young people in Baltimore, he’s a role model, having overcome his father’s death at a young age and growing up in economically depressed Pompano Beach, Florida. When the Ravens conducted a poll in 2020 asking fans to name the team’s greatest players of all time, Lamar Jackson — with all of two NFL seasons under his belt at that point — beat out Joe Flacco, the 2012 Super Bowl MVP with 11 seasons on the team, as the top quarterback vote-getter.
That’s why the decision whether to get a COVID-19 vaccination for this very public figure isn’t just a matter of “personal” choice, as Jackson insisted at a news conference Monday.
Whether No. 8 likes it or not, there’s a lot more riding on his vaccine status than his own health — although, frankly, that should have been sufficient to convince him to vaccinate. He’s already tested positive for the virus twice, the second time on the eve of training camp. Under National Football League rules, a team that experiences a COVID outbreak bad enough to cause a game to be canceled will forfeit that contest, and its players will sacrifice that week’s paycheck. That’s one reason why the NFL has actually had considerable success getting players to take their shots with more than half of teams reporting a 90% fully vaccinated rate. Remember Maryland’s VaxCash promotion, where lucky vaccinated people could win $40,000 in a raffle? In the NFL, it’s as if everyone is getting picked every week for 17 straight weeks. For most NFL quarterbacks, it’s like they get picked three times each week given their stratospheric salaries.
Setting the money aside, Lamar Jackson could make a real difference by standing up at the Ravens practice facility in Owings Mills, Maryland, as soon as possible — perhaps a nurse or doctor at his side with a needle at the ready — and get vaccinated, willingly, proudly and enthusiastically for all his fans to see. Being an NFL star is undoubtedly great. Getting paid millions of dollars to play a game is probably even better. Performing in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans? Wow. And being named the best at what you do? Surely, a thrill. But none of them compare to saving young lives the way Jackson could easily do by demonstrating that the vaccine is safe and effective and not some difficult choice that should flummox a healthy adult.
The rise of the delta variant has raised the stakes in recent weeks, with COVID cases and deaths on the upswing nationally. And who in Maryland has gotten hit hardest by the pandemic? The statistics show Black and Hispanic residents have been infected at higher rates and are much more likely to end up hospitalized. Young people, particularly those 12 to 17 who only became vaccine eligible in May, are also among the least likely to already be vaccinated. How many of them would benefit from seeing a local sports star endorsing vaccination?
We’re not interested in bashing Lamar Jackson. We hope he and the Ravens will eventually sign a lucrative contract extension. His success means a lot to a whole lot of people. And it’s clear that ridiculing the vaccine hesitant does not make them any less hesitant. But even people who are inclined to distrust government to provide accurate information regarding an ongoing public health crisis (or the media to fairly report on it for that matter), may yet believe that a celebrity athlete who has access to the best medical advice will make the best possible choice. That gives Lamar Jackson a unique platform and an opportunity save lives and to help end the pandemic sooner rather than later. Will he rise to the challenge as he so often does? The clock is ticking.
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