Kyrie Irving is not obliged to get vaccinated. But he is not being reasonable for as much as he would like to disguise his motives as a greater cause.
Vaccination carries some risks. There have been cases in the past where vaccination has created negative externalities that have cost the lives of individuals. Indeed there is also some amounting evidence that the new covid vaccines there are some cases of clotting, which has led to death in the most extreme cases.

Humans are prone to take more notice and consideration of the extreme cases rather than the majority of cases. It is the reason why some people are afraid of flying even though the possibility of dying during a flight is virtually zero even if you had flown every single day since the invention of an airplane. Still, some people remember the outlying cases of air accidents and are afraid of flying. This is called “Availability heuristic”.

 It is no surprise that some individuals are also scared of vaccines even though the chance of dying is virtually zero, while the chance of dying from covid-19 or its variants is way more likely, especially in the absence of a vaccine. 

7-time NBA All-Star and former NBA and Olympic Champion, Kyrie Irving (USA), is one of those individuals that are either hesitant or decided about not getting a vaccine.

His  baffling reason is that: “secret societies are administering vaccines in a plot to connect Black people to a master computer for a plan of Satan” (Rolling Stone).

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (USA), an NBA legend, told the Rolling Stone: “There is no room for players who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates, the staff and the fans simply because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation or do the necessary research. What I find especially disingenuous about the vaccine deniers is their arrogance at disbelieving immunology and other medical experts. Yet, if their child was sick or they themselves needed emergency medical treatment, how quickly would they do exactly what those same experts told them to do?”

Due to New York City’s vaccine mandate for public events, Irving is not able to play the home games of his team, the Brooklyn Nets. Further, the team has already announced that he will not be able to practice for the team, virtually setting his career on a standstill.

Individuals in the United States are free to not get vaccinated. No one can coerce Irving into getting a vaccination. But now he faces an important dilemma: to get vaccinated or to exercise his professional career.

Science is not an absolute truth but it is the best system in a reasonable world. Individuals are free to take unreasonable choices and believe in magical mechanisms. But doing so is a road toward intransigency, which stifles reasoned discussion and progress.

Irving is wrong. He is setting a wrong example and is being irresponsible internationally. Other cities and teams should follow suit and implement the same policies that mandate compulsory vaccination. Gathering masses of people already poses some risks. To allow leeway for people to get away with making it more difficult for the world to get rid of the virus is not desirable for health, a tenet that sport presumes to care about.

According to The Athletic, Irving’s has told some unspecified individuals that his reasoning “challenging a perceived control of society and people’s livelihood”. This is absurd. If he was a freedom fighter, he would have taken a stance advocating for something greater.

Irving’s rationale is derisory. It could be said that people that read about this case in the future will laugh at the primitive train of thought here. But that is how supposedly people would react to quackery in today’s world, and it is not the case.