Even though they will not be permitted to hold their training camp at Saint Vincent College, according to a source the Steelers have crossed the 90 percent threshold for COVID-19 vaccinations.
That makes them among the NFL's highest vaccinated teams.
"I am really comfortable," Mike Tomlin said at the team's recently completed minicamp. "I like our overall trajectory of our participation in the vaccination process. Guys are working hard to adhere to the polices and the protocols. It’s just been a continuation of 2020 in regard to our attitude. We are going to work hard to adhere. We will look for an advantage that compliance might get us. Participation has been awesome from what I understand. We are doing really well relative to the rest of our peers. We just hope to continue to work in that area and hopefully it is a winning edge as we proceed."
Cam Heyward said earlier in the offseason there wouldn't be pressure put on players to get vaccinated. But the team obviously made it easy for players to get vaccinated.
Per the league's in-season protocols, vaccinated players will be able to return to nearly pre-COVID-19 normality. Unvaccinated players will still need to adhere to social distancing and other rules.
"I think everybody has to make that decision personally," Heyward said. "With my situation, I got the vaccine. I have really bad asthma and I have bad allergies. When I was a kid, I was always in the hospital to begin with. I just thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to give another reason why.’ That’s everyone’s belief towards it. Everybody has different situations. All I can do is provide them the information and they’ll make their own choices."
Last week, the NFL denied the Steelers' proposal to allow them to return to Saint Vincent for training camp because of issues the state of Pennsylvania had with the plan. Instead, the Steelers will hold camp at Heinz Field and the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
