NBA’S slam dunk on vaccines puts us to shame
THIS IS ONE SHOT I WON’T BLOCK. — BILL RUSSELL
If you want to truly understand just how far behind Canada is on COVID-19 vaccines, don’t compare us to other countries — compare us to the National Basketball Association. The league of our beloved Toronto Raptors is lapping us, and embarrassing the Trudeau government in the process.
Canada’s Liberal government is still scrambling to scrape together enough vaccines for populations that urgently need one, such as seniors, health-care workers and other front-line personnel. Once we have enough doses for those with urgent needs, we’ll need vaccines for everyone else who is eager to be vaccinated.
But what about those who don’t want to be vaccinated? How far away are we from having real conversations with those who are hesitant or downright refuse to receive a shot in the arm? Until we have enough vaccines, answers to these questions are just speculation and theory.
According to a report from The Canadian Press, about one-third of Canadians distrusting vaccines. And that group is disproportionately made up of millennials and generation Z. Only 60 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 44 trust vaccines, compared to 86 per cent of those over the age of 75.
We need to close this generation gap if we are going to vaccinate enough Canadians to achieve herd immunity. Sadly, we’ve barely gotten started. Meanwhile, the NBA is already taking this challenge head-on.
Retried basketball legends Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-jabbar, along with 72-year-old NBA head coach Gregg Popovich, have each starred in advertisements promoting vaccines. Russell’s ad has some great one-liners, like “This is one shot I won’t block” and “No Celtics were harmed during my shot,” which make for a much more engaging public-service announcement than what most governments have come up with.
These ads will help reach older fans who watched Russell and Abdul-jabbar, or those who are part of Popovich’s generation. But millennial and generation Z athletes aren’t nearly as quick to jump on board. Active players are unsure about participating in PSA ads of their own. ESPN reports that players’ agents have given multiple reasons to explain why their clients may decline to participate in promoting vaccines, including “uncertainty about taking the vaccine themselves” and “reluctance to advocate its use for others.”
Former New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale, who is in his 40s and helped coach Lebron James and Dwyane Wade during their Miami Heat championship run, has argued that the NBA needs to work with players to ensure they have the correct information to make a decision about the vaccine.
On ESPN’S The Jump, Fizdale recalled his time as a coach and how he struggled to get players to get flu shots.
“I didn’t have the education. I was still thinking as an African-american kid that grew up in a neighbourhood that was fearful of doctors in a lot of ways,” he said.
So Fizdale sat down with the Knicks’ doctor to learn more about vaccines, then the two of them sat down with the players. “We gave them the education. So now they could make a sound decision based on facts. We created herd immunity on our team. I respect the guys who didn’t want to do it. I didn’t shame them,” said Fizdale.
A standout question for the Trudeau government is who exactly are the David Fizdale’s that government officials will rely on to communicate with millennial and generation Z Canadians? I have yet to see convincing plans from any level of government detailing how officials will ensure that the concerns of young Canadians on the ground will be heard by the bureaucrats at the top of ivory towers, and vice versa.
The Trudeau government has acquired and distributed so few doses that Canadians will likely spend the next few months watching the NBA promote vaccines to our American neighbours, while we continue wondering when we’ll get in on the action.
As the NBA works to close its own generation gap by educating younger players about the efficacy of vaccines, its efforts highlight just how much Canada lags behind.
I RESPECT THE GUYS WHO DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT.