SEC commissioner Greg Sankey: COVID-19 vaccines ‘not a political football’
Nearly half of SEC football teams have reached at least an 80% vaccination threshold, commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday. But that’s not enough.
“That number needs to grow and grow rapidly,” said Sankey, who kicked off SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala.
Sankey did not identify the six teams in the 14-member SEC that have reached the 80% mark, but he came out strong in support of vaccinations, as did Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby at Big 12 Media Days last week.
“We do not yet have control of the COVID environment,” Sankey said. “COVID vaccines are widely available, and they’ve proved to be high effective. They maximize our chances of returning to a normal college football experience.
“Vaccines are an important and incredible product of science. Not a political football. And we need to do our part to support a healthy society.”
The SEC footprint includes some of the nation’s lowest COVID-10 vaccination rates, according to mayoclinic.org. The three states with the with the lowest percentage of people fully vaccinated are Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas, all under 36%. The national average of people fully vaccinated is 49.1% as of Sunday.
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 12:29 PM with the headline "SEC commissioner Greg Sankey: COVID-19 vaccines ‘not a political football’."