Philadelphia Phillies Players Believe Coronavirus Vaccine Causes Injuries

As the NFL, MLB, and NBA try to get their teams vaccinated to avoid losing players for games, the Philadelphia Phillies failed to reach the 85 percent vaccination threshold yesterday, and at least part of the reasoning is that some believe there is a connection between getting vaccinated and getting injured. Per The Athletic...

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Many Phillies players have bristled at MLB’s protocols, but they are the same set of rules for every team. Team officials will not divulge how many players aren’t vaccinated. It is a meaningful number, to the point that months ago, the Phillies were certain they would never reach the 85 percent threshold. The clubhouse’s contentious relationship with the vaccine is driven by a handful of influential players who have voiced opposition to it. Some of them have already contracted COVID-19 and consider the antibodies as enough protection, although the CDC recommends people who’ve had the virus still be vaccinated. Other Phillies players have questioned whether injuries they’ve suffered were a result of vaccine side effects.

When Kintzler experienced neck pain, he attributed it to a Johnson & Johnson vaccine he received in the first week of the season. His body, he said, shut down and that forced him to compensate during an outing. Didi Gregorius has told teammates he thought the vaccine led to his pseudogout diagnosis. When asked last month if he had a theory about what caused his elbow issues, Gregorius said: “I have no clue. So, I’m not sure. Let’s go with that. Because if I start saying things, it’s going to turn into a whole thing.” Archie Bradley alluded to the vaccine when he injured his oblique in April.

“I think everyone should recover for a week from that thing,” Kintzler said of the vaccine last month. “Archie strained his oblique after it. (Matt) Joyce had back problems. There has to be some science behind it.”

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(The Big Lead)