Vikings’ Patrick Peterson Has A Message For His Unvaccinated Teammates

Patrick Peterson isn’t afraid to call out his teammates who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

With the NFL season around the corner, the Minnesota Vikings currently have the lowest percentage of vaccinated players on their roster in the NFL.

The NFL team with the lowest vaccination rate is the #Vikings with only 64.5% fully vaccinated. https://t.co/j02wOZhqSh

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 3, 2021

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On Tuesday, Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson had a public plea for his teammates who are hesitant to take the vaccine.

“We need all hands on deck and I know it’s personal preference, but if you’re trying to win a championship I want to put myself in the best position possible because at the end of the day we’ve got something going here,” Peterson said on the All Things Covered podcast, via Judd Zulgad of SkorNorth.com.

As Vikings slide to last in vaccination rate among all NFL teams, CB Patrick Peterson makes a strong plea for the holdouts to get the shot. https://t.co/iFcbwOSawn

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 3, 2021

“Obviously, you want to build depth but you have a greater chance by winning with your starters on the field,” Patrick Peterson continued. “If we’re healthy we’re going to compete each and every Sunday. It’s every players’ personal preference if they want to get the vaccine or not, but I feel like I’m too important to this team not to get vaccinated. I miss an important game and now we possibly lose that game and that can be the game we needed to get into the playoffs.”

Peterson knows that the Vikings (or really any team) can’t manage having players out for an extended period of time, and taking the vaccine will likely prevent an elongated trip to the reserve list.

It doesn’t appear that the Vikings will reach the 85% threshold put in place by the NFL to receive relaxed protocols, but Patrick Peterson will do everything in his power to try to get his teammates to think differently.

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