Lamar Jackson On Vaccine: 'I Feel It’s a Personal Decision'
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is still undecided about getting vaccinated for COVID-19 even though he contracted the virus twice in less than a year.
"I feel it’s a personal decision," Jackson said. "I’m just going to worry about that with my family. I’m going to keep my feelings to my family and myself. I’m focused on getting better right now. I can’t dwell on that right now – how everybody else feels. I’m just trying to get back into a great routine.”
Jackson missed the first week of training camp after testing positive for COVID-19. Jackson said he was "heartbroken" to be away from his teammates.
He also tested positive for COVID-19 last year and missed the Ravens' game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in late November. Jackson was activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list about two weeks later and returned for Baltimore's next game against the Dallas Cowboys where he completed 12 of 17 pass attempts for 107 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for 94 yards on 13 carries with another score.
Jackson said he felt fatigued after getting the virus both times.
"I was sleeping a lot, but I’m glad to be back," Jackson said. "Ten days being off, I didn’t like it at all. So, I’m just happy to see you guys, see my teammates, see the fans. I’m just glad to be back. It’s over with.”
When pressed about getting the vaccination, Jackson said: “We’ll see, we’ll see. Talking to the doctors. We’ll see.”
Jackson has looked mostly solid since returning to practice. His accuracy has been solid and he had not shown any issues running the football.
The hope is that he can stay healthy throughout the season because the Ravens' Super Bowl hopes hinge on Jackson's performance.
“I want to inspire the kids, and I want to inspire the community, but at the same time, things are going to come at you, [and] people are going to feel however they want to feel about certain situations, and you’ve just got to go however you want to go about it," Jackson said. "So, we’re going to see.”
Jackson is also expected to begin negotiating a new contract with the Ravens that could pay him $40 million or more annually.
It's still too early to determine what impact if any, the second positive COVID test might have on those negotiations.
"I’m not a perfect player," Jackson said. "I don’t’ think anybody is a perfect player, but I’m trying to work on everything; throwing the ball outside, throwing deep passes, throwing intermediate passes, short passes, running a little bit here and there, getting moves out of the pocket – everything.”
