Sixers Guard to Miss Playoff Games Due to Not Being ‘Fully Vaccinated’

Matisse Thybulle
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle confirmed on Sunday that he will not be able to participate in the team’s road playoff games against the Toronto Raptors, as he is not “fully” vaccinated, explaining that he comes from a “holistic household.”

“I was raised in a holistic household where anti-vax was not a term that was used,” the Sixers guard said in an opening statement.

“It’s a weird term that’s been thrown around to just label people, but we grew up with Chinese medicine and naturopathic doctors and with that upbringing, coming into this situation, I felt like I had a solid foundation of medical resources that could serve me beyond what this vaccine could do for me,” he explained.

“As things escalated and as this situation has played out, I’ve obviously had to reconsider and look at it differently,” he said, explaining that he considered getting vaccinated during the playoffs last year and, as a result, got a single jab of the Pfizer shot.

Matisse Thybulle of the Philadelphia 76ers smiles prior to the game against the Detroit Pistons at the Wells Fargo Center on April 10, 2022 in...

76ers guard Matisse Thybulle (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Like many others, the player said he was initially “under the impression that getting vaccinated means that I could not get the disease and transmit it to other people.”

“I felt like if I’m going to be a part of society in the position I’m in, I need to do what’s right for the greater good. That argument of the greater good held a lot of weight for me,” he said, adding that the narrative changed and “it just showed to the science that that wasn’t the case anymore, that even while being vaccinated, you can still spread the disease.”

At that point, Thybulle said, he no longer felt like the “greater good” argument applied, as the vaccine was not protecting other people after all, as the disease continued to transmit to others.

“…with that being considered and the holistic background of my upbringing and just the way I view medicine in general, I felt like I was secure in going to the doctors that I have to treat COVID if I did get it and in the case that I did, I was able to go about it in my holistic way and I’m able to sit here today healthy and be OK because of it,” he added.

Because of that decision — to only get one Pfizer jab — Thybulle will be unable to play in the games 3 and 4, which will be in Canada, which requires travelers to be fully vaccinated:

The Sixers, the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, face off against the Toronto Raptors Saturday, April 16, in the states.

The news comes weeks after New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), who recently tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus, made waves after exempting performers and athletes from the city’s private sector vaccine requirement.

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