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NFL Won't Require Players, Coaches to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

The league's chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, said that he hopes everyone will get vaccinated even though it won't be mandated.

Nick Selbe

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues across the country, the NFL will not require its players, coaches and team staff to get vaccinated, the league's chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, told Judy Battista of the NFL Network on Thursday.

"The NFL and the NFL Players' Association have no intention of making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for players, coaches or staff," Sills said. "What we are focusing on is education. We want everyone to have the facts, and we believe that this is an important step forward."

Sills mentioned the 2021 draft in late April as a league event in which teams hosting events involving only fully vaccinated people would have fewer restrictions than those that include unvaccinated people. He also said that while the league will have no requirements to get vaccinated, the hope is that everybody will.

"We'll continue those discussions and go where the science leads us on that, but I think we've got a lot to learn between now and then. But we're really going to focus on getting that education and continuing that dialogue," Sills said. "We're seeing a lot of dialogue between players, coaches and staff about vaccination. We hope that everyone gets vaccinated."

In February, commissioner Roger Goodell wrote to president Joe Biden offering the use of all 30 NFL stadiums as vaccination sites. 

“We look forward to further discussion with your administration as well as your partners in state and local governments to advance this effort,” Goodell wrote.

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Nick Selbe
NICK SELBE

Nick Selbe is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about baseball and college sports. Before joining SI in March 2020 as a breaking/trending news writer, he worked for MLB Advanced Media, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. Selbe received a bachelor's in communication from the University of Southern California.

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