Karl-Anthony Towns calls out anti-vaxxers following mother’s death from COVID-19
Towns reportedly lost six other family members to the virus
NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns is the latest pro-vaxxer calling on those who are vaccine-hesitant to get over themselves, comply and take the jab.
Jacqueline Towns, the mother of the Minnesota Timberwolves star, died in 2020 following a weeks-long battle with coronavirus, theGRIO previously reported. Towns reportedly lost six other family members to the virus. In April, he took to Instagram to share an image of himself getting the vaccine. The move came a day before the anniversary of his mother’s passing.
“Every day I see a new excuse why people ain’t getting the vaccine,” he wrote in a tweet. “Ya starting to get creative with these ‘reasons’ though and it’s actually really funny.”
Journalist Jon Krawczynski replied, “Imagine telling this man that it’s a personal choice that doesn’t affect anyone else. Just imagine.”
Towns clapped back with… “It never matters to people until it happens to them,” he said. “I hope no one has to deal with what I’ve had to and still continue to deal with.”
Back in December, Towns spoke about how the COVID pandemic has impacted him.
“I’ve seen a lot of coffins in the last seven-eight months,” he told reporters, per People.
“I have a lot of people who have, in my family and my mom’s family, gotten COVID. I’m the one looking for answers still, trying to find how to keep them healthy. It’s just a lot of responsibility on me to keep my family well-informed and to make all the moves necessary to keep them alive.”
The star athlete tested positive for the virus back in January and at the time said it would take a “group effort” to battle COVID.
“I pray every day that this nightmare of a virus will subside and I beg everyone to continue to take it seriously by taking all the necessary precautions,” he wrote on social media. “We cannot stop the spread of this virus alone, it must be a group effort by all of us.”
According to reports, as of Wednesday (Sept. 15) only 54% of the country is fully vaccinated. In August, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots.
Most new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. So-called breakthrough infections can occur in vaccinated people, and though the vast majority of those cause mild or no symptoms, the research shows they can carry about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots.
“So we’re looking, not, I believe, to lockdown, but we’re looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we’re seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again, the solution to this is get vaccinated and this would not be happening,” Fauci said on ABC’s This Week.
This story contains additional reporting from Keydra Manns and the Associated Press
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