Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes the altruistic case for vaccinating NBA players now

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
(Image credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar agrees with fellow NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley that at least some current professional hoops players should jump the COVID-19 vaccine line, but his reasoning differs significantly.

Barkley caused a stir last month when he suggested NBA players "deserve some preferential treatment" regarding vaccinations because they pay a lot in taxes due to their high salaries. In a Monday op-ed for The New York Times, Abdul-Jabbar — who at age 73 has already been vaccinated — writes that while that is simply "untrue," there is an altruistic case for inoculations within the league, even though healthy athletes in their 20s and 30s typically wouldn't be close to prioritization.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.