SAN DIEGO — Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. isn’t comfortable taking the vaccine for COVID-19 and is adamant there shouldn’t be a mandate for NBA players to take it.
Porter, in an interview with The Denver Post, said his opinion is based on two separate bouts with COVID.
“For me, I had COVID twice, I saw how my body reacted, and although the chances are slim, with the vaccine, there’s a chance you could have a bad reaction to it,” Porter said. “For me, I don’t feel comfortable.
“My stance on the mandate is it definitely shouldn’t be a mandate. It should be everyone’s decision. I see it both ways. If you want to get it because you feel more protected and you feel safer, and it’s protecting people around you, get it. That’s good for you. But if you feel like, ‘Oh, for me, I don’t feel safe getting it, then don’t get it.’”
Porter isn’t the only Nuggets player unvaccinated. He, along with any unvaccinated teammate, will be subject to onerous testing and other restrictions. The guidelines are outlined in the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
“I’ve had it twice, and I don’t know what’s going in my body with a shot, so if I already know how I’m going to react to COVID, I just feel like, for me, I don’t want to risk putting something that might affect me negatively in my body,” Porter said.
Porter said his thoughts ran parallel to those of Orlando forward Jonathan Isaac, who told the media earlier this week he was uncomfortable with the vaccine.
“I’m not anti-vax, I’m not anti-medicine, I’m not anti-science,” Isaac said. “… It is my belief that the vaccine status of every person should be their own choice, completely up to them, without bullying, without being pressured or without being forced into doing so. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m uncomfortable with taking the vaccine at this time.”
According to the NBA’s health and safety protocol, unvaccinated players won’t be able to eat in the same room with their teammates, will test far more frequently, and will have limitations on where they can go in their home city and on the road. With limited exceptions, including exercise or essential activities, unvaccinated players will have to “remain at their residence at all times when in their home market, or at the team hotel property at all times when with the traveling party on the road.”
Porter’s decision not to get vaccinated could also have a detrimental effect on the team. Unvaccinated players deemed a “close contact” of someone who tests positive will have to quarantine for seven days whereas fully vaccinated players may be exempt from a similar quarantine.
