After a fairly busy run of news on the COVID-19 vaccine front in the NFL last week, an update on progress seems to have the league's members near a milestone of sorts.
Sixteen of the NFL's 32 teams have 51 or more players vaccinated, while the other 16 teams have 50 or fewer players vaccinated, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported.
The magic number of 53 on an active roster is fair to consider alongside these numbers, but not entirely accurate at this time. Teams are currently carrying rosters that allow a maximum of 90 players on them, so the median of 50 isn't nearly as close to full vaccination as one might think as of mid-June.
Coaching staffs and team personnel are much closer to full vaccination. Thirty of the league's teams have Tier 1 and 2 personnel at vaccination rates of 95% or higher, while the other remaining two teams are between 90 and 95 percent vaccinated.
The league mandated all Tier 1 and 2 employees get vaccinated unless they had "bona fide" exemptions with the goal of relaxing COVID-19 protocols and allowing these employees to enter restricted areas. Tier 1 includes the coaching staff, so it's fairly encouraging to see the vast majority of these personnel have received their vaccination.
Last week, both Washington coach Ron Rivera and Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians spoke on the matter following team efforts to either inform or provide vaccines for their players, staff and family members. Arians was rather blunt on the matter, saying "if you want to go back to normal, get vaccinated."
Even if it hasn't happened as quickly as expected, it seems the league is headed in that direction.
