SEC football talking tough when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations – Chron

The SEC has schools in states with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country, but the conferences commissioner sounds like hes ready to get tough with football teams who aren't getting vaccinated at a high enough rate.

Speaking at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala., on Monday, Greg Sankey said all teams will be "expected to play as scheduled" because games won't be rescheduled due to COVID-19 and that it's up to teams to get their players vaccinated.

"That means your team needs to be healthy to compete, and if not, that game won't be rescheduled," Sankey said. "And thus, to dispose of the game, the 'forfeit' word comes up at this point."

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According to Sankey, six of the conferences 14 teams have reached 80% vaccination, but he didnt name the programs. Once a team reaches the 85% vaccination threshold, the SEC no longer requires its players to be tested regularly or wear masks inside the team's facilities.

That number needs to grow and grow rapidly, Sankey said.

A week earlier, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby delivered a similar message.

Frankly, anyone not getting vaccinated is taking unnecessary and unwarranted risks, said Bowlsby, who also said most of the Big 12 teams have reached at least 75% vaccination. It's shortsighted to not get vaccinated. If indeed the delta variant is as infectious as it is reported to be, not getting vaccinated is rolling the dice. As student athletes, you're also rolling the dice on whether you're going to participate.

College football games around the country last season were rescheduled due to COVID-19 outbreaks, including a Texas A&M-Tennessee matchup in November and LSU games against Alabama and Florida. The Texas A&M-Mississippi game was postponed twice and eventually canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Ole Miss.

"We know nothing is perfect," Sankey said, "but the availability and the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines are an important and incredible product of science, not a political football, and we need to do our part to support healthy society."

Across the country, 59.4 percent of people 18 and older are fully vaccinated. Only six states are below 40 percent fully vaccinated in that age group, and four of those states Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi - have schools in the SEC. The other two states below 40 percent are West Virginia and Wyoming.

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SEC football talking tough when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations - Chron