The WNBA and vaccination rates
Can't find a role model when it comes to getting workers vaccinated against Covid-19 without a mandate? Maybe you've been looking in the wrong places.
Sunday's conclusion of the dramatic WNBA playoffs offers a pointed reminder not only of the growing success of the women's pro basketball league, but also of its triumph way back in June in getting 99 percent of players fully and voluntarily vaccinated.
In recent months, other leagues have played catch-up. The Houston Rockets' 100 percent vaccination rate certainly deserves praise. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that 96 percent of all NBA players had received at least one shot while the NFL's one-shot rate was 94 percent. Among the leagues disclosing rates of fully vaccinated players, the NHL has climbed above 99 percent while Major League Baseball reports 87.4 percent.
But holdouts such as Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving, whose refusal to get the shot has rendered him unable to play due to New York City's vaccine requirements, are still making headlines. We applaud the WNBA for leading the way.
If you missed the playoff excitement, we're happy to provide a little recap: With two minutes left in the game and a league championship on the line Sunday afternoon, Chicago Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot dribbled through the paint, looked to her left and found her teammate, hoops legend Candace Parker, open just beyond the threepoint line. As Parker let the shot fly, thousands of mostly masked fans raised their arms hopefully and tracked the ball as it flew through the air.
"You bet!" exclaimed ESPN announcer Ryan Ruocco as Parker's 3 fell through the net and tied the game at 72, sending the capacity crowd — including Chicago dignitary Chance the Rapper — into a frenzied celebration. The Sky went on to beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-74 to claim their first WNBA title, and on Tuesday the city closed down Michigan Avenue for the victory parade as thousands came out to fête the city's newest champions.
We're celebrating the end of the season all the way down here in Houston, because it's a big deal that the women's hoops league has now capped off 25 seasons with a strong fan base, rising ratings and, judging by WNBA players' Twitter action over the past couple of weeks, a growing toehold in the culture.
Yet the league's biggest success came in June, when it announced that players had achieved nearly perfect buy-in to the vaccine. How it accomplished this, without a mandate, is worth spending a little chalk on. Mandates are necessary in places, and have proven to help save lives. But no one in Texas needs reminding that many here still resist them. So what can we learn from the WNBA's playbook on vaccine persuasion?
Its approach, featured recently in Sports Illustrated and USA Today, included one-on-one conversations with players to gauge their vaccine concerns and hear their questions, followed by Zoom calls for groups of players to talk directly with public health experts.
League officials made an additional strategic decision: They connected the call to get vaccinated around the player-led push for social justice and racial equity in 2020.
"If Black Lives Matter is what we're about, then in the public health space, this is really big for Black and brown communities," Terri Jackson, executive director of the WNBA players association, told Sports Illustrated. Jackson said the union scheduled individual conversations with players a year ago to gauge vaccination comfort levels and took note of fears players had so they could circle back to them with the help of medical researchers. The subsequent panel discussions, held early in 2021, featured discussions with OBGYNs about fertility questions and women of color to talk with the majority-Black league.
Washington Mystics forward Alysha Clark, who was initially skeptical about getting vaccinated, told Sports Illustrated that the league's approach — to take concerns seriously and address misinformation head-on without shaming those who were on the fence — helped persuade her to get the shots.
"Those conversations with those medical professionals are what helped me get over the hump," Clark said.
It's easy to be frustrated with those who haven't gotten vaccinated yet. Yet they shouldn't be written off as merely stubborn. Every day, previously reluctant people make the brave, necessary choice to get vaccinated. Every time someone does, our society gets a little bit safer — which makes the hard work worth it.
Numbers of Covid-19 cases related to the delta surge have mercifully trended downward this month. But we're not out of the woods.
Persuading the unvaccinated to get the shot, and urging others to get their boosters, remains life-saving work. Thanks to the WNBA for setting an example that other organizations, companies and our own families can follow.