Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not be eligible to play in the team's upcoming game against the Kansas City Chiefs, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
Although Rodgers told reporters in August that he had ''been immunized,'' NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Mike Garafolo report that the quarterback has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, and that the team has been treating him as unvaccinated this season, with Rodgers having to wear a mask while indoors and taking daily tests for COVID-19.
Sources confirmed to NFL Media that Rodgers has not received a dose of any COVID-19 vaccine. He must now spend at least 10 days without any contact with the team, as per the NFL's COVID-19 protocols, meaning that the earliest that he can return is Nov. 13, just a day before the Packers play the Seattle Seahawks.
NFL Network reports that Rodgers was denied an exemption from the league and the NFL Players' Association's COVID-19 rules after he applied for one, based on his antibody levels over the summer, after he received homeopathic treatment from his personal doctor.
The league and the players union, however, both concluded that the treatment did not lead to documented protection against the virus.
Rodgers said in August: "You know, there's a lot of conversation around it, around the league, and a lot of guys who have made statements and not made statements, owners who have made statements. There's guys on the team that haven't been vaccinated.
''I think it's a personal decision. I'm not going to judge those guys. There are guys that've been vaccinated that have contracted COVID. It's an interesting issue that I think we're going to see played out the entire season."
Packers coach Matt LaFleur, when asked at a press conference on Wednesday if Rodgers' ''immunized'' comment in August had been misleading, said: "It's a great question for Aaron. I'm not going to comment on it."