Aaron Rodgers says he regrets 2021 comment that he was 'immunized' - ESPN

Three years after Aaron Rodgers told reporters he'd been «immunized» against the COVID-19 virus, the quarterback says in a soon-to-be-published unauthorized biography that he should have been truthful about his status.

Rodgers, who previously said the controversy had a dramatic impact on his public image, told author Ian O'Connor that the primary reason he claimed he was «immunized» was the statement represented «the crux of my appeal.»

«If there's one thing I wish could have gone different, it's that, because that's the only thing [critics] could hit me with,» Rodgers said in the book.

In November 2021, the Green Bay Packers' four-time league MVP tested positive for COVID-19 as an unvaccinated player and was sidelined for a minimum of 10 days. Rodgers had appealed to the NFL to have his homeopathic treatment regimen qualify him as vaccinated and faced widespread criticism for his misleading remarks. He was turned down.

Three months earlier, at a widely reported preseason news conference, Rodgers told reporters he had been «immunized» and was heavily criticized by fans and much of the media.

Rodgers later said on «The Pat McAfee Show» that his research showed he was allergic to an ingredient — polyethylene glycol, or PEG — in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, and that he was concerned about reports of adverse medical reactions to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

«But if I could do it again, I would have said [in August], f--- the appeal. I'm just going to tell them I'm allergic to PEG, I'm not getting Johnson & Johnson, I'm not going to be vaxxed,'» Rodgers, now the quarterback of the New York Jets, said in the book titled «Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers».

Rodgers told O'Connor the statement represented