John Calipari says Kentucky players, staff fully vaccinated

John Calipari confirmed on Monday morning that the entire Kentucky Men’s Basketball Team, players and staff included, is fully vaccinated.

The Wildcats are currently in New York City to take on Duke Tuesday night in the Champion’s Classic. Due to a New York City mandate, all players, staff members, fans (aged 12 and up), and arena staff members in attendance at Madison Square Garden must have at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

This won’t be an issue for Kentucky though, which has a 100 percent vaccination rate. Calipari added that most of his staff has already received a booster shot.

“All of our guys and staff are vaccinated,” Calipari said during his pre-Duke press conference. “You know last year, not one of our players or staff contracted the virus. Not one. Now we were never able to come together as a team because we made sure we were away from each other, but none of them contracted, and right now, most of the staff has gotten their boosters.”

Over the summer, Calipari confirmed a breakthrough case of COVID-19 that kept him off the recruiting trail during the Peach Jam and caused him to miss the 2021 NBA Draft. Initially, he was hesitant to talk about it as to not discourage others to get vaccinated, but he has since changed his tune and advocates for everyone to get the shot.

“Do you know why I didn’t say anything?” Calipari said a couple of months ago. “I would tell you that I did not want to discourage anyone. To say, ‘Well, now he got it so why would I take it? It doesn’t matter.’ My symptoms were so mild that I was good. It took me — I had some aches and pains and stuff. Never got a fever, never got the headache, nothing but I was positive.”

Calipari added on Monday that he hopes being fully vaccinated will help his team avoid some of the pitfalls that came with last season. The less that everyone has to deal with COVID-19, the easier life will be.