A report earlier this week indicated that the Steelers are the third team to have over 85 percent of their players fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and word on Friday is that rates around the league continue to tick upward.
NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills said, via Adam Schefter of ESPN, that 65 percent of the league’s players have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Schefter notes that that rate is in line with the country as a whole and a higher than the vaccination rates of people who are between 18 and 39-years-old.
A report earlier this month put the number of players with at least one dose at over 50 percent and that 16 teams had more than 50 of their players vaccinated.
The restrictions put in place for what unvaccinated players will be able to do during the preseason and training camp as opposed to those that have been fully vaccinated have likely helped push some players to get their shots. Those restrictions include not being able to eat with teammates, not being able to leave the team hotel on the road and mask-wearing requirements that will not be in place for vaccinated teammates.