James Franklin on Penn State’s covid-19 vaccination rate: 'Pretty high'

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State coach James Franklin has been an outspoken advocate for vaccination during the coronavirus pandemic, and he is continuing to urge the Nittany Lions to get vaccinated ahead of the 2021 season.

“We’re really chipping away at it,” Franklin said Wednesday night over Zoom. “I’m not going to be happy until we’re 100%. I’m not going to get into the exact percentages, but we’re pretty high.”

During Big Ten Media Days, Franklin said he was aiming for his entire program to be vaccinated against covid-19 — the eighth-year coach said the mark was above 70% at that point — and he reiterated that goal Wednesday. But he also acknowledged that for a variety of reasons, the Nittany Lions might not hit the 100% mark he is aiming for.

“I think there’s a handful of guys left that I think — there’s probably a few that may do it and there’s a few that probably will not,” Franklin said. “And for me, it is a personal decision. I’m trying to educate them as much as I possibly can through our doctors and trainers, and again, I’m not one of these people. I’m not doing the educating. I’m not the expert. So our trainers and doctors are doing that as much as we possibly can.

“I won’t be happy until we’re 100%. I don’t know if we’ll get there because there’s just a couple guys that for a variety of reasons — they may not be comfortable or their families may not be comfortable. We’re talking about it all the time.”

Franklin said he is working to make sure those who don’t receive a vaccine understand “the consequences of our decisions” in terms of guidelines from the NCAA, Big Ten and Penn State. Earlier this month, the NCAA released covid-19 guidelines for the fall 2021 season, including differing masking and physical distancing rules for players who had been vaccinated versus those who had not.

During his Penn State Media Day news conference last weekend, Franklin urged Nittany Lions fans and others in the community to get vaccinated. He was “asking and pleading for everybody to do everything they possibly can to give us the best chance to get back … how we would probably describe normal.”

Penn State is scheduled to open the season Sept. 4 at Wisconsin in a full capacity Camp Randall Stadium, and the Nittany Lions are on track for their home opener against Ball State on Sept. 11 to be in a capacity Beaver Stadium. But Franklin wants to continue to take the steps to ensure that actually happens.

And he wants his team to take the necessary steps, too.

“I’ve been pleased overall,” Franklin said Wednesday. “We showed that we were able to kind of handle this. We learned from it a lot. I think we did a really good job with covid last year, and obviously now we got to be able to handle covid and play football the way I know we’re capable of playing.”