LeBron James posted a meme related to COVID-19 that insinuated COVID, a common cold, and the flu are the same thing. The meme caused some backlash, and now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has responded to James.
Kareem has been highly vocal about NBA players being unvaccinated, and now his attention has been set on James. Via his website, Abdul-Jabbar said, “To directly address LeBron’s confusion, no one thinks colds and the flu aren’t serious. In the 2019-2020 flu season, 400,000 people were hospitalized and 22,000 people died. In 2020, 385,428 people died of COVID-19, while so far in 2021, 423,558 have died in the U.S., for a total of 808,986 deaths. Experts agree that COVID-19 is at least 10 times more lethal than the flu. As for the common cold, death is extremely rare.”
While speaking to directly to LeBron, Kareem said, “LeBron James, if you’re concerned about the flu, then help promote the flu vaccination. In the 2019-2020 flu season, only 51.8% in the U.S. were vaccinated, well below the 70% that is the target. Worse, the vaccination rate is 20% lower among Blacks than whites and as a result, they have the highest hospitalization rate due to flu of any other group. This is due to vaccination hesitancy that your meme promotes.” Recently, LeBron James missed several games after testing positive for COVID-19.
source: KAJ Substack
