In his first public comments since receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins said he only got the shot because he didn’t want to miss any games, however he remains uneasy about its long term impacts.
The 26-year-old made headlines over the last month after reports surfaced that he had refused to receive the vaccine, leaving his availability in doubt for the upcoming season since San Francisco requires that all people at indoor mega-events, both participants and patrons alike, are fully inoculated.
Wiggins, who finally relented and received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last weekend, spoke to reporters following the Warriors’ first preseason game at the Portland Trailblazers on Monday.
"It feels good to play," he said. "But, you know, getting vaccinated, that’s going to be something that stays in my mind for a long time. That’s not something I wanted to do, but I was kind of forced."
He said that while it was "a tough decision," he decided to take the shot because he "forced to" in order to remain in the NBA.
"It came down to: Get the vaccination or don’t play basketball," Wiggins said. "I’m 26. I have two kids. I want more kids. I’m trying to do something that will generate as much as I can for kids and my future kids. I’m trying to make generational wealth. I took the gamble. I took the risk. Hopefully, I’m good.”
Wiggins mentioned multiple reasons why he was hesitant and remains dubious about the vaccine, saying he could "go on for days" about why he didn’t want to receive it.
The most important factor, he said, was his uncertainty around what the long term effects of the shot will be over time.
"I don’t know what’s going to happen or what it’s going to do to my body in 10, 20 years, what it will do to my kids or my future kids. But I guess it’s something I had to get done," he explained.
"There’s no studies on whether it’s going to cause cancerous cells. I don’t know what it’s going to do to my body," he added, citing “gene damage” as one of his primary fears.
According to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center "none of the vaccines interact with or alter your DNA in any way, and therefore cannot cause cancer," as the shot "never even goes into the nucleus of the cell — the part that contains your DNA."
Wiggins noted that he had an allergic reaction from Tylenol "a couple years ago" and ever since then he doesn’t like "to take anything." Even during physical rehabilitation, Wiggins maintained that he tries not to put any "foreign substances" into his body, though he did say he carries around an EpiPen.
He also said that he had COVID before and "it wasn't that bad."
Wiggins added that he holds no resentment towards the Warriors organization.
"They didn’t make the rule. I guess to do certain stuff, to work and all that, I guess you don’t own your body. That’s what it comes down to," Wiggins said. "You want to work in society today, I guess they make the rules of what goes into your body and what you do. Hopefully, there’s a lot of people out there that are stronger than me and keep fighting. Stand for what they believe and hopefully it works out for them."
You can read Wiggins’ full comments here.
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