Philadelphia 76ers: Matisse Thybulle tries to clarify his vaccination status

Matisse Thybulle‘s vaccination status might just be the biggest storyline heading into the first playoff series of the James Harden–Joel Embiid era of Philadelphia 76ers basketball.

Is he vaccinated? Yes… kind of. Thybulle has taken the first half of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19, according to Derek Bodner.

Does that mean he could somehow, by the grace of the basketball gods, actually take the court for the Sixers in Games 3 and 4 of their playoffs series versus the Raptors when the games are played in Toronto? No, not unless Toronto changes their rules in the next two weeks.

Confusing? You bet, but after leaving fans in the dark for a solid week, the Philadelphia 76ers’ all-defensive wing addressed his status head-on after the team’s 51st win of the season, even if it only made things a whole lot more confusing.

The Philadelphia 76ers will be without Matisse Thybulle for Games 3 and 4.

Alright, so without further ado, what’s the deal? Well, allow me to quote the man directly, as dictated by Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice. “This was a decision I made a long time ago. I was raised in a holistic household, anti-vax is not a term that was ever used. We grew up with Chinese medicine and naturopathic doctors.”

That’s… okay. If that’s all Matisse Thybulle had to say, it would be a bummer but at least a clarified bummer, but instead, he continued on and that, my friends, is where things took a confusing turn.

… huh. So Thybulle did, in fact, take a single dose of a COVID vaccine before the 2021 playoffs, to be specific according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Noah Levik, but decided against taking the second dose after learning that the first dose wouldn’t prevent him from getting/spreading the disease completely.

That’s… honestly, I’m not even sure what to say. Since the vaccine was initially debuted some 14 months ago, the overwhelming consensus has always been that the vaccine was meant to limit the effects of COVID-19, not prevent people from getting and spreading the virus. While things were a bit confusing in the early days of the pandemic, even a year in when the vaccine became available via emergency use, the CDC explicitly debunked Thybulle’s theory in January of 2022 when the Delta variant was taking the world – and the NBA – by storm.

Here is a quote on the topic from Dr. David Dowdy, an associate professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “It gets very easy to misconstrue,” Dowdy said. “If someone asks, do vaccines prevent infection, and you have to give a yes or no answer, then the answer is no, they’re not a perfect blockade. But do the vaccines offer some protection against infection? The answer is yes.”

Had Thybulle simply taken the J&J vaccine a year or so ago, he would be eligible to play in Toronto with no problem, as the country of Canada considers a person fully vaccinated if they complete their initial vaccination program sans any sort of boosters, but as a half vaccinated person, he is out of luck until he takes the second dose and then waits two more weeks.

Could Thybulle technically be eligible to play in Game 6? Yes, but based on his comments, it seems incredibly unlikely that that will happen.

Will the Philadelphia 76ers miss Matisse Thybulle if he can only play half of his team’s games in the first round of the playoffs? Yes, say what you will about Thybulle’s outside shot or inability to slam down dunks off of a fastbreak, but he is an incredible defensive playmaker who can take over a possession, quarter, or even game when he’s on. Assuming nothing changes over the next few days – literally – this has become yet another hurdle for one of the most top-heavy teams in the NBA with very few quality defenders to overcome versus an opponent almost designed to neutralize their offensive bright spots.