Canadian Minister of Public Health Marco Mendicino has announced that as of January 15, 2022, no athlete will be able to enter Canada without being vaccinated against COVID-19. Legislation in the North American country prevents entry to any citizen who has not received at least one dose of vaccination approved by the state in question. So far, athletes have been an exception to this decree, but they will soon cease to be.
This novelty affects two leagues in particular. The NHL, whose commissioner Gary Bettman has ensured that only four players in the entire league remain unvaccinated. And the NBA, which in its latest reports registered 95% of vaccinated players. As for this, the limitation is related to the measure that the League interposed on the salary of unvaccinated players, who would not charge the matches that were lost for this reason.
The Canadian government’s decision is not related to the small outbreaks that emerged recently in the NBA. In fact, most of them have affected vaccinated players. But it is related to the concern that the consequences of COVID-19 continue to affect the competition. Hopefully these new measures won’t mean too many unexpected casualties.
(Cover photo by Mark Blinch / Getty Images)