A swimmer on the U.S. Olympic team says he is heading to the Tokyo Olympics without being vaccinated.
During a USA Swimming media call on Thursday, Michael Andrew explained why he wouldn't be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in the "distant future."
According to the Washington Post and ESPN, Andrew said that he "didn’t want to put anything in my body that I didn’t know how I would potentially react to."
He added that he didn’t want to be sidelined and miss a few days of practice because of possible side effects.
"As an athlete on the elite level, everything we do is very calculated … I didn’t want to risk any days out because there are periods where, if you take the vaccine, you have to deal with some days off," Andrew said per the Post.
Andrew's comments come in the wake of the Tokyo issuing a state of emergency amid a rise in coronavirus cases.
The head coach of the men's U.S. Olympic swim team Dave Durden sidestepped questions about Andrew's vaccination status, saying, that "regardless of vaccinations or not vaccinated, it’s what our attitudes and actions are."
