Preventing 'Unvaxxed' Novak Djokovic From Playing The U.S. Open Is Outrageous
But the good thing for Novak is that no matter what happens, he is going to be looked at as even more of a leader for holding his ground on not getting the jab.
Novak Djokovic, a 21-time Grand Slam champion, is being robbed of the opportunity to further his legacy in the world of tennis, simply because he isn’t vaccinated. He announced on Twitter yesterday that he would not be able to travel to the U.S. for the U.S. Open due to travel restrictions mandating vaccination for entering the country.
Keeping Djokovic off the court more than 2 years after the pandemic’s inception makes absolutely zero sense, especially because, as I profiled in a piece just days ago, the CDC has now changed its guidelines regarding people who have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid.
Specifically, the CDC dropped quarantine and social distancing requirements for people who have come in “close contact with an infected person.”
“The changes, which come more than 2 1/2 years after the start of the pandemic, are driven by a recognition that an estimated 95% of Americans 16 and older have acquired some level of immunity, either from being vaccinated or infected, agency officials said.”
Greta Massetti, a CDC epidemiologist came right out and said it two weeks ago:
“We know that Covid-19 is here to stay. High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection, and the many tools that we have available to protect people from severe illness and death, have put us in a different place.”
Preventing one of the game’s true legends from the potential to earn another Grand Slam title is as arrogant as it is outrageous. Not only is Djokovic arguably in the best shape of almost anybody in the world, but the CDC has openly admitted that more than 95% of people have some level of immunity.
This focus on immunity in general - not just immunity via vaccination - was missing over the last two years while companies like Pfizer sold billions of dollars in vaccines. The fact that the CDC is acknowledging it now, yet it is not being reflected in travel policy, is an egregious error.
Governments around the world have amassed a long list of overzealous actions taken over the last 2 years that history is not going to look kindly upon. Preventing one of the world’s best tennis players from continuing to compete at the highest level will be one of them.
But the good thing for Novak is that no matter what happens, he is going to be looked at as even more of a leader for holding his ground on vaccination than he would have if he had gotten vaccinated just to come and win the title. The mindset of having sovereignty over one’s body as the most important thing in one’s life shows precisely why Djokovic has the mental fortitude to continue to compete at the highest levels. This video makes that perfectly clear:
Just when you thought the Covid blunders were finally taking a backseat (perhaps now to monetary policy or fiscal blunders), our standing travel restrictions have done one last disservice - not only to Djokovic and tennis fans, but to all of sports history and the champions who came before him.
As the evidence continues to pile up that the experimental MRNA therapies pretending to be vaccines are the single biggest public health disaster in the history of mankind, those who coerced and benefitted from them only have two options: slink away and hope no one finds them, or; double down on their criminal behavior, in a final attempt to simply convince everyone that if you repeat a lie over & over again, it becomes reality. Alas, reality does not care about their lies. And those of us who are forced to deal with the wreckage of their criminal behavior, with spouses, children, siblings and parents permanently maimed or killed have declared war on them, with the army growing daily. We're coming for you and we aren't going to stop until the entire world is watching your trial for violating the Nuremberg Code. Djokovic is one of the few young, professional athletes who has maintained his credibility throughout this mess. Hats off to him. The day will come when he can play anywhere he wants. We need to take out the trash before he can do so.
Can't he just sneak across the Mexican border with his rackets, catch the Texas bus to NYC, and demand temporary asylum from the USTA?