Another two cases of why anti-vaxxers hurt themselves.
Certainly, people are entitled to their opinions and are free to take whatever actions they choose. However, when those choices endanger other people, there must be consequences.
Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich was fired in the middle of the season with a 4-3 record after refusing to comply with a mandate that state employees must be vaccinated against COVID.
Coach Rolo was fired with cause and will thus not be paid the balance of his annual $3 million contract, which had made him the highest-paid state employee. Who does that help?
Not him and his family or his team, which also loses four assistant coaches for the same reason. Rolovich claimed a religious exemption but had no corroborating evidence and the school acted to protect the hundreds of football players, coaches and staff.
While he may get back into coaching somewhere, someday, it sure looks like his career is on life support, where millions of people contracting COVID wound up after falling deathly ill.
Rolovich might have asked for a leave of absence and given his assistants a chance to do the same. This controversy first went to court last spring, so there was plenty of time to work out a compromise.
Back East, former Panthers and Patriots quarterback Cam Newton never said publicly he was not vaccinated. Now he has been and says he is ready to play football again, perhaps as a highly paid back-up QB who sits on the bench unless the starter gets hurt.
That is a very sought-after role on most NFL teams for players who are paid handsomely just to practice. Newton did what he needed to get back in the game, but his future is in serious doubt.
More than likely, the Patriots told Cam he could stay as a back-up quarterback and short-yardage specialist if he agreed to that role and would get vaccinated. He might have said no to both conditions, and now is unemployed while promoting himself for a new job.
Why do so many people gamble this way?
A well-respected local health administrator believes there is a correlation between voting and getting vaccinated and living a healthy and wealthy life. Maybe Rolovich and Newton better understand that now.
Photo via Young Kwak/Associated Press.
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