On Wednesday morning, the Vikings had a virtual meeting with Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer who made the case for why players should be vaccinated against COVID-19. After that meeting, coach Mike Zimmer used a question about the Vikings' approach to vaccine education to make a pointed summary of Sills' message.
Put simply, Zimmer said, it's "not only the safety part of getting vaccinated, but as far as being part of a football team, it's just going to be so much easier."
The league's 2021 protocols for unvaccinated players will be similar to the ones it used throughout the 2020 season, where all players were required to wear masks in team facilities, undergo daily COVID-19 testing and limit interactions with others that might spread the virus.