Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving and professional Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic all have one thing in common: They are professional athletes who refuse to get vaccinated. While it’s each person’s choice to get vaccinated or not, sometimes the cost of not being vaccinated goes far beyond the obvious health risks.

Three-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers knows this all too well. Rodgers’ misleading comments about his vaccination status came to light in spectacular fashion during this NFL season when he contracted Covid-19 and was forced into the NFL’s protocols for unvaccinated players, exposing his non-vaccination status for all to see. Rodgers, who had previously been held in high regard by most fans, was widely criticized — not for being unvaccinated, but for leading everyone to believe he had been. In a NFL press conference on Aug. 26, Rodgers said he was “immunized” when asked about his vaccination status.

“There’s guys on the team that haven’t been vaccinated,” Rodgers said. “I think it’s a personal decision. I’m not going to judge those guys.”

Later in November, after testing positive for Covid-19, Rodgers admitted that he was not vaccinated, acknowledging that his previous comments were misleading.

“To anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments,” Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show.

Because Rodgers didn’t follow Covid-19 protocols, he was fined by the NFL.

“Athletes should be punished for lying about their vaccination status since it could affect the health of their teammates and team staff,” DePaul graduate student Sloane Szuber said.

While Rodgers finally came clean about his vaccination status and had another MVP-worthy season this year, he suffered a major blow to his reputation because of his deceitfulness.

Similar to Rodgers, Kyrie Irving, NBA championship winner with the Cleveland Cavaliers and current guard for the Brooklyn Nets, has remained unvaccinated. Irving’s decision has had ramifications for his title-contending team this year. That’s because Irving is unable to play in Brooklyn because of a New York City mandate that requires everyone to be vaccinated in all public venues. Therefore, he is missing all of his team’s home games, putting the Nets at a disadvantage without the nearly 25 points per game he typically averages. This situation has been compounded by the fact that superstar teammate, Kevin Durant, recently sprained his MCL and is expected to be out for four to six weeks. Given Durant’s injury, basketball fans thought Irving would reevaluate his stance on vaccines to help the shorthanded team. The fans were wrong.

“I respect everyone else’s decision, I’m not going to ever try to convince anyone of anything or any of that, I’m just standing rooted in what I believe in,” Irving said in a press conference after a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Jan.

Irving may be at peace with his decision to remain unvaccinated, but it’s not endearing him to fans. Chicago resident and sports fan Julian Romano believes that people in Irving’s position should get vaccinated.

“I believe [professional athletes] do have a real responsibility to be vaccinated,” Romano said. “They are amongst their fellow teammates and staff on a daily basis who share the same responsibility. A team is nothing without the fans and organizations that support them, so if all of those people are getting vaccinated and risking their lives to make sure the seasons continue, then I think the players should respect that.”

Current No. 1 ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open winner, has perhaps suffered the biggest loss of any professional athlete due to his refusal to get vaccinated. He didn’t get the chance to try for a 10th Australian Open title this year, which meant he couldn’t add to his tally of Grand Slam titles, thereby breaking his 20-title tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, leaving him alone at the top as the sport’s winningest player. Nadal was able to compete in the Australian Open and won the title instead of Djokovic.

Despite being unvaccinated and knowing that Australia bans foreigners from entering the country if they are not fully vaccinated or do not have a medical exemption from receiving the vaccine, Djokovic sought and received a vaccine exemption from Tennis Australia before his arrival at this year’s Australian Open, but not from the Australian authorities. Amid the public outcry from highly vaccinated Australian citizens over the double standard being shown to Djokovic as a professional athlete, Djokovic was detained in the immigration detention center in the Melbourne airport after his arrival and ultimately denied entrance into the country by the Australian Border Force (ABF).

Djokovic tried to remain in the country by claiming a medical exemption due to the fact that he had recently had Covid-19. As reported by The Guardian, the ABF said Djokovic “failed to provide appropriate evidence” for entrance because a positive Covid test in December was not a valid reason to enter without being vaccinated. As a result, Djokovic had to leave the country without playing in the Australian Open and his dreams of a 21st Grand Slam title left with him. Fans were not sympathetic to Djokovic’s plight, saying he should have to adhere to the same rules as they. Longtime tennis player and Naperville resident Glenn Shine said,“Athletes should not be the exception for Covid just because they are about to play in a big match.”