Dan Mullen Praises DeSantis: 'Our Governor Has Done An Amazing Job'
Florida's head football coach Dan Mullen came ready to SEC Media Days on Monday, and when asked about team vaccination rates, he took a detour.
"I'm not going to get into the specific numbers right now, but I think we're doing very well with those numbers," Mullen said during the conference.
Mullen said when looking back at the COVID issues the team dealt with last year, the medical staff has done an "incredible job" of educating the players.
"In the state of Florida, our governor has done an amazing job with the accessibility of the vaccine for quite a while now," he said.
“So we’re at a pretty high number of vaccinated players right now, but I think what the medical staff and really what Governor DeSantis, what he’s been able to do and the leadership of UF Shands Hospital system on campus has really been beneficial for our program and university as a whole,” Mullen said.
Gatorswire reports the SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said that only six out of 14 teams in the conference have at least 80% of their players vaccinated against COVID-19 during his state of the conference address to kick off SEC Media Days Monday.
The conference is hoping it can get 80% of players on every team vaccinated, and Sankey said there won’t be as much leniency for teams like last fall if they’re unable to compete due to COVID-19, putting pressure on the Gators to reach that 80% threshold within their program.
The conference also said that once a team reaches the 85% threshold, that the entire team, including coaches and support staff, can suspend testing regardless of a given individual’s immunization status, Gatorswire reports.