NYC Mayor Addresses Vaccine Mandate As NBA Playoffs, MLB Opening Day Near

He said sports teams will have to wait their turn for the vaccine mandate to be loosened.

New York City mayor Eric Adams addressed the city’s current COVID-19 vaccination mandate and how professional sports teams are going to have to wait their turn for looser restrictions. 

“Right now, we’re going to take some complaints,” Adams said during a Tuesday morning news conference, according to ESPN. “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.”

As of now, due to the private employer mandate, unvaccinated professional athletes in New York City are not allowed to compete in home games. This applies to the Nets, Knicks, Mets and Yankees. Most notably, Brooklyn point guard Kyrie Irving, who has been clear he is not going to get the vaccine, has only been competing in away games for his team. 

But as MLB’s Opening Day and the NBA postseason near, unvaccinated athletes are desperate for a change. The Yankees’ home opener is April 7 and the Mets’ home opener is April 15. Meanwhile, 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,” Adams said, per ESPN. “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.”

NYC’s COVID-19 cases will need to stay in check if there’s any hope for the private sector mandate to be removed any time soon. Unfortunately, the city’s COVID-19 infection rate has been climbing and was over 50% this past week, according to ESPN.