Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott on Friday declined to disclose his vaccine status, saying doing so violates his privacy.
Prescott made the comment in a news conference when a reporter noted that running back Ezekiel Elliott said he had been vaccinated.
“I don’t necessarily think that’s exactly important. I think that’s HIPAA,” Prescott said when asked about his own vaccination status.
“I understand everybody’s opinion and I think everybody has that right. We wouldn’t live in this country and we wouldn’t be in the position that we’re in if that wasn’t the case. Obviously, we all have to do a better jobs of educating ourselves, of educating our neighbors. Just on this whole pandemic, just this whole situation, the vaccine,” he added.
HIPAA, formally called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, requires the health care and health care insurance industries to protect patients’ medical records from fraud and theft.
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor GreeneMarjorie Taylor GreeneGOP efforts to downplay danger of Capitol riot increase The Memo: What now for anti-Trump Republicans? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s meeting with Trump ‘soon’ in Florida MORE (Ga.) similarly claimed on Tuesday that a reporter asking if she was vaccinated violated HIPAA.
“Well, you see your first question is a violation of my HIPAA rights,” Greene said. “And with HIPAA rights, we don’t have to reveal our medical records and that also involves our vaccine records.”
Prescott’s comments come as the NFL encourages teams to get vaccinated. About 80 percent of NFL players have received vaccinations thus far.
Elliott told reporters on Thursday that he got vaccinated despite opposition from his family.
Prescott said it was “huge” for his teammate to share why he got vaccinated, but stressed the importance of educating each other about the vaccine.
“Obviously, there’s conspiracies and there’s so much stuff out there right now,” Prescott said.
“So, we’ve just gotta continue to do that, talk among each other, answer some of the questions that people may have. Try to give hope where there may be fear, or just figure this thing out. As I said, it’s all about educating ourselves and knowing as much as we can about what we’re putting in our bodies,” he continued.
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