Dallas Mavericks guard Trey Burke is the latest NBA athlete to take on a firm stand against taking the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the upcoming season. The 28-year-old has admitted that he has yet to receive any dose from the vaccine for the virus and also explained why he's taking such a strong stand against taking it.
According to Fox News' Mike Doocy, Burke claims that, as much as he respects everyone's freedom of choice to get vaccinated, he is also simply practicing his right of choice and is ‘respectively declining' taking the jab amid all the league's health and safety protocols.
“I respect the ‘freedom of choice' in which everybody has that birthright. Therefore this is a personal choice and preference that my family and I have always abided by. I believe more in holistic and naturalistic ‘medicine' rather than the ‘drug' industry or what we know today as ‘pharmaceuticals',” the Mavs guard explained via text (h/t to Marc Stein).
Mavericks guard Trey Burke told the Dallas ledge @MikeDoocyFox4 that he is "standing on my own freedom of choice" and "respectively declining" the COVID-19 vaccine. Burke tells Doocy he is aware he will have to abide by all of the NBA's rules for non-vaccinated players. https://t.co/87rNuthfRA
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 1, 2021
Burke isn't the first one taking a hard stand against getting vaccinated, either. Other stars like Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards as well as Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets have been solid in resisting the whole idea of getting vaxxed, or at least try to evade conversing about it.
This is despite the local mandate in cities like San Francisco and New York having strict vaccination requirements. Texas, on the other hand, hasn't been as strict when it comes to protocol. However, the entire state ranks second in the most number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (4.05 million) as well as deaths (65,200) as of writing.
“I plan on closely following protocol and the guidelines that the NBA has set in place for all non-vaccinated players,” Burke added. “But as for the shot, I am standing on my own freedom of choice & respectively declining.”
Burke signed a three-year deal with the Mavs in December 2020 which makes him part of the team until the end of the 2022-2023 NBA season.
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