More Than a Dozen Trail Blazers Players Received COVID-19 Vaccinations Today

The Portland Trail Blazers are vaccinated against COVID-19—thanks to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

The team announced that 13 players on the 15-man roster received shots of the Moderna vaccine from the tribes, which began offering excess doses to the general public in February, according to a statement on the team's website.

According to The Athletic's Jason Quick, the players drove out to Grand Ronde, a town about 90 minutes southwest of Portland in the Coastal Range, on their own and were administered the vaccine at the Grand Ronde Tribal Center. Several team staffers were also vaccinated.

The Blazers didn't formally announce who on the team received the vaccine, but center Jusuf Nurkic confirmed that he was given the shot on Twitter:

The 86% vaccination rate is impressive, particularly given the widespread skepticism lingering around COVID-19 vaccines, both in the Black community and across the NBA. "Our players are agnostic at best at this point," a team executive told The Athletic last month.

Portland is among the first NBA teams to announce the vaccination of its players, along with the New Orleans Pelicans and Atlanta Hawks.

Related: State Projects 80% of Oregon Seniors Will Be Vaccinated by March 31 as Governor Accelerates Timetable for Shots.