While touring Kentucky to survey tornadoes, President Joe Biden takes a poke at Aaron Rodgers for not being vaccinated
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President Joe Biden poked the bear — er, Packer — Wednesday while visiting tornado-ravaged Kentucky.
Biden spoke with two women, one of them wearing a Green Bay Packers stocking cap, who told the president they were Packers fans. They talked briefly and one of the women said something that was not clear on the video, and Biden responded, "Did you really? God love you. Tell that quarterback he's gotta get the vaccine," which drew laughs.
Biden then turned and walked away in mike-drop fashion.
Rodgers decidedly parsed his words when asked about his vaccination status before the start of the season, saying he was "immunized." He tested positive for COVID in early November, at which time it became known he was not vaccinated. He missed the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, which Green Bay lost 13-7 with Jordan Love at quarterback.
Rodgers took heat over whether he lied or tried to conceal his vaccination status and he responded by blasting the "woke mob."
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Since his return, the Packers are 3-1, and at 10-3 are tied with the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the best record in the NFL.
The furor over Rodgers' vaccination status has died down, but things got suddenly worse for the NFL, which saw nearly 100 players and coaches placed on the unable-to-perform COVID lists this week. The Packers so far have not added anyone to the list this week.
The Biden administration's efforts to get people vaccinated have taken on more urgency as the omicron variant of COVID is exploding across the globe. It is more infectious than the delta variant and is expected to supersede it in short order. It is unclear whether it is more deadly.
Health experts say that two-dose vaccinations are less effective against omicron, but booster shots help restore much of the protection against infection and hospitalization.
Biden was in Kentucky on Wednesday touring the devastation wrought by tornadoes over the weekend. He pledged to do "whatever it takes, as long as it takes," to help Kentucky and other states recover.
"The scope and scale of this destruction is almost beyond belief," Biden said.
Nighttime tornadoes killed nearly 100 people across five states.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report
Contact Richard Ryman at (920) 431-8342 or rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Joe Biden visits Kentucky, addresses Aaron Rodgers being unvaccinated
