‘That’s a personal choice.’ UK football not at critical vaccination mark.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey this week said games will not be postponed and rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Any teams facing health circumstances that would possibly keep them from fielding a playable roster would have to forfeit those contests.
As of Tuesday, only six of the 14 league schools had reached an 80-percent vaccination rate. For a program to avoid regular COVID-19 testing, it must achieve an 85-percent vaccination rate.
Kentucky, one of 10 SEC programs that was able to get through the 2020 season without a postponement, is not one of the six. UK played a couple of games in the final third of the regular season with several key players absent due to COVID-19-related quarantines.
“We just try to educate ‘em as best we can and put the facts in front of them,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops told local reporters during SEC Media Days on Tuesday. “That’s a personal choice.”
Stoops during a larger media event said Kentucky has “a ways to go” in terms of meeting the vaccination threshold but believes it’s attainable.
“I’ll let the experts come in and continue to educate them and talk to them about the benefits of it and possibly some of the negatives and let them make their own decision,” Stoops said.
Georgia, one of Kentucky’s annual opponents in the SEC East Division, is among the six teams that have met the 80-percent vaccination rate. Head coach Kirby Smart told reporters that his team was at the 85-percent mark and intends to go higher.
“We’re proud of that, but we’re not stopping there,” Smart said. “It’s not about a number. It’s not about a threshold. I think everybody wants to write who’s over and who’s under. What it’s really about is being able to save our season, being able to keep our players safe. We want to keep our players safe. We want to keep our coaches and staff safe. We want to keep our family members safe, and that comes through vaccinations.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 3:03 PM.
