Trump-friendly quarterback Kirk Cousins loses partnership with local hospital after rejecting COVID vaccine

On Friday, NBC Sports reported that Kirk Cousins, the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, has lost a longtime partnership with a local hospital after his public rejection of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Cousins had served as a spokesman for Holland Hospital in Holland, Michigan, the town where Cousins was a star athlete at Holland Christian High School," reported Michael David Smith. "The hospital announced today that it will cut ties with him."

In a statement, the hospital said keeping Cousins on as its spokesman would have undermined its mission to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

"While we acknowledge that each person is entitled to their own viewpoints, those who speak on our behalf must support messages that align with the hospital's position on matters of vital importance to individual and community health," the hospital said

Cousins, who was friendly with former President Donald Trump, made his anti-vaccination remarks to reporters on Thursday, saying that he had made a "personal" choice not to get vaccinated.

He suggested he would resort to other measures to keep himself from posing an infection risk to his teammates, including "surrounding himself with plexiglass in the QB room," according to ESPN's Kevin Seifert.

His opposition to vaccination comes despite the fact that he was exposed to an infected teammate and spent the previous week in quarantine.