New York City mayor Eric Adams addressed the city’s current COVID-19 vaccination mandate during a news conference on Tuesday, and stated that professional sports teams are going to have to wait for restrictions to ease. Adams said: “Right now, we’re going to take some complaints. But when this is all said and done, people are going to realize this is a thoughtful administration and we got it right. So baseball, basketball, businesses, all of those things, they have to wait until that layer comes.”
Due to the private employer mandate currently in place in New York City, unvaccinated professional athletes in NYC are not allowed to compete in home games — meaning the mandate applies to the Nets, Knicks, Mets and Yankees. Notably, Brooklyn point guard Kyrie Irving has repeatedly stated he will not be getting the vaccine; and as a result, had only been allowed to compete in away games for the Nets. As MLB’s Opening Day and the NBA postseason approach, unvaccinated athletes are at risk of being limited in play time. The Yankees’ home opener is April 7 and the Mets’ home opener is April 15, and the NBA play-in tournament starts April 12 with the playoffs set to start April 16.
Adams says he doesn’t “feel any pressure doing this job at all, because I’m going to do what’s right. We’re going to do it in the right way. We’re going to follow the science … we’re going to make the right decision. And in New York, no matter what you do, this is 8.8 million people and 30 million opinions, so you’re never going to satisfy New Yorkers, so you must go with the logic, your heart and the science.”
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