Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin says his program is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while LSU athletic director Scott Woodward says just two Tigers haven’t received the vaccine.
According to ESPN, Kiffin says Ole Miss football has a 100 percent vaccination rate among players, coaches and staff members who were present when preseason practice started Sunday. ESPN cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in saying that Mississippi was recently the last-ranked state in percentage of residents that have received at least one dose of the vaccine, at 41.6 percent.
“It’s pretty amazing and great motivation for our fans and the state,” Kiffin said, saying that the football program picked up its vaccine pace as the summer progressed. “Nobody wants to be in a position to forfeit games.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in July that all 14 of the conference’s teams had reached 80 percent vaccination. The SEC won’t require regular COVID-19 protocol and testing for teams that have reached the 85 percent vaccination threshold.
Elsewhere in the conference, Woodward told the LSU Board of Supervisors that all but two football players have been vaccinated. According to The Advocate, LSU had previously announced that 100 percent of staff members were fully vaccinated.
"I’m very proud of that effort," Woodward said. "I’m very happy. The team is at 97.4 percent. For you who want numbers, that’s only two players that haven’t gotten it yet, and I think we’re going to get them there.
"The most impressive thing is everyone that touches our football players — from a coaching staff and from a support staff standpoint — are 100% vaccinated."
While the SEC doesn’t require fully vaccinated individuals to wear face masks inside facilities, Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards is mandating face coverings.
