The NFL's health officials touted their success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said only one person was hospitalized for COVID-19 this season out of the league’s over 7,000 players, coaches and staff. He attributed that to the 95% of players and almost all staff who received at least two doses of the vaccine.
Only 10% of players have received a booster shot, compared to a 60% rate throughout the entire NFL community, he said. Still, the boosters, at least among staff, helped the league "withstand this storm.” Sills called them "the best protection” against the virus.