by Rachel Klein ‘22

Over the past week world-renowned tennis player Novak Djokovic has been all over the news for his vaccination status, canceled visa, and possible deportation from Australia, where the 2022 Australian Open is being held in just a couple of weeks. Djokovic, who is the highest ranked men’s tennis player in the world, believes he has an exemption for Australia’s vaccination requirement because he had Covid-19 a month ago and still has the antibodies. He went to court to display this possible exemption and get his visa reinstated so that he can compete in the Australian Open. The judge did rule in his favor and reinstated his visa and removed him from his quarantine hotel. At this time it is unclear whether or not he will be able to participate in the Open or not. 

There are numerous problems with Djokovic getting away with traveling abroad while being unvaccinated. He believes he deserves special treatment. Although Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, said even Djokovic does not deserve to be treated differently than regular people, he still got off. If someone is already on the fence about getting vaccinated, hearing a famous person like Novak Djokovic publicly denouncing the vaccine and still getting to do whatever he wants is not going to convince them to get the shot to slow the spread and decrease the needless risk to their own health.