All U.S. Olympians and Olympic hopefuls for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing must be vaccinated against COVID-19, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced Wednesday.
All USOPC employees and contractors must be vaccinated by Nov. 1. Anyone hoping to be part of the U.S. delegation in Beijing must be vaccinated by Dec. 1.
As with most organizational vaccine requirements, exceptions are allowed for medical and religious reasons.
The International Olympic Committee has not issued any vaccine mandate for the Beijing Games, which start Feb. 4, 2022. Vaccine access remains inconsistent throughout the world, with richer countries holding many more doses.
An estimated 240 U.S. athletes will travel to China for the Games, a far cry from the 600-plus who went to Tokyo earlier this year for the Summer Olympics.
Neither the U.S. nor the IOC required vaccines for the Tokyo Games. The USOPC estimated that 83% of the American delegation was vaccinated, with the IOC putting the number at 85% among all Olympians.
