Aaron Rodgers Has One Regret About Vaccination Controversy

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sparked controversy in the early days of the NFL's post-Covid era with his opinions on vaccines. Now, with three years of hindsight, Rodgers is looking back on his comments with some hint of regret—though, not for his lack of vaccination.

Rodgers' life will be explored in depth in the upcoming biography Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers by sports writer Ian O'Connor. An advance excerpt obtained by ESPN shows exactly how Rodgers views the statement that set off so much chatter around his vaccination status.

In a July 2021 press conference, Rodgers famously told reporters "Yeah, I’ve been immunized" when asked if he’d been vaccinated against the virus. The wording itself led to more criticism, and Rodgers explained the following year on The Joe Rogan Experience that he opted for an "immunization process through a holistic doctor."

As for his original comment that prompted a media firestorm for his alternative medical practices, Rodgers regrets using the word "immunized" when speaking to reporters, but doesn't wish he went about Covid prevention in another way.

"If there's one thing I wish could have gone different, it's that, because that's the only thing [critics] could hit me with," Rodgers said in O'Connor's book.

At the time, he was busy with his appeal to the NFL to be considered vaccinated under its guidelines. He later said that he discovered he was allergic to polyethylene glycol, or PEG, an ingredient in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines , and that he was worried about negative health reactions following reports around the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

With the hindsight he has now, he wishes he'd stood 10 toes down when facing the league. "If I could do it again, I would have said [in August], 'F--k the appeal.' I'm just going to tell them I'm allergic to PEG, I'm not getting Johnson & Johnson, I'm not going to be vaxxed," he said in the book.

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He went on to break down what was happening in his mind and in his dealings with the NFL at the time.

"I had an immunization card from my holistic doctor, which looked similar. I wasn't trying to pawn it off as a vaccine card , but I said, 'Listen, here's my protocol. Here's what you can follow to look this up.' And it was an ongoing appeal. So, if I had just said [I was unvaccinated] in the moment, there's no chance that the appeal would have been handled the exact same way," he said.

As for whether he would've gotten vaccinated in accordance with local regulations or risk being benched like Kyrie Irving , Rodgers' response was simple: "I wouldn't have done it."

Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers hits shelves Aug. 20.