The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee will require athletes hoping to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 1.
The USOPC announced the new policy Wednesday. It also applies to coaches, staffers and all other potential members of the Team USA delegation headed to Beijing for the Games.
The International Olympic Committee did not mandate vaccination for the Tokyo Olympics this past summer, and has not indicated that it will introduce a mandate for Beijing. An initial version of its COVID-19 countermeasure “playbooks” are expected next month.
The USOPC also did not require Summer Olympic athletes to be vaccinated, and dozens competed in Tokyo while unvaccinated. But the USOPC said in an internal document Tuesday that it is “adopting this COVID-19 vaccination requirement to safeguard the health of our athletes, team members, coaches, trainers, contractors, vendors, and any others visiting USOPC facilities, attending internally managed sport activities, and joining USOPC delegations to international sport events.”
The USOPC said it will grant “exemption from the vaccine requirement for a legitimate medical reason or because of a sincerely held religious belief.”
The document, though, indicates that unvaccinated athletes who receive an exemption could be subject to increased testing or other strict protocols. Without an exemption, they would not be allowed to attend the Games.