Patrick Peterson urges Vikings players to get vaccinated against COVID-19

Earlier on Tuesday, Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf expressed concern over the fact that only 70% of the team's players had gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot. 

Eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson signed with the Vikings this past offseason and, per Judd Zulgad of SkorNorth.com, urged his teammates to complete their vaccination processes as soon as possible during his "All Things Covered" podcast. 

"Obviously, we don’t want to have anybody go down with COVID," Peterson explained. "It’s better to have it now. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again throughout the season. But at the same time, we need all hands on deck and I know it’s personal preference, but if you’re trying to win a championship I want to put myself in the best position possible because at the end of the day we’ve got something going here. … Obviously, you want to build depth but you have a greater chance by winning with your starters on the field." 

He continued: "It’s every players’ personal preference if they want to get the vaccine or not, but, like me, I feel like I’m too important to this team not to get vaccinated. I miss an important game and now we possibly lose that game and that can be the game we needed to get into the playoffs." 

Peterson is spot on in that a team could be made to forfeit this fall if it cannot play a game because of a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated personnel. Players could lose their game checks for a contest that is scrapped for reasons related to the virus. 

Also on Tuesday, it was learned that 27 NFL teams have at least 85% of their players vaccinated against the coronavirus. The NFL and NFL Players Association aren't forcing players to get the shots, but those who don't will have to follow strict guidelines similar to those used during the 2020 season.