The recent news that the NBA will not be mandating vaccines is yet another reminder that these sports league mandates only apply to those who are replaceable. The policies make no sense.
ESPN reported that the COVID-19 protocols being negotiated by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association would not include a mandate for the players to get vaccinated. This matches the policies of the NFL and MLB, neither of which mandated the vaccine for players but both of which imposed some restrictions on vaccinated players.
But the story is different for those who aren’t millionaire athletes. NBA referees and most NBA staff are required to be vaccinated. The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros were among teams that mandated the vaccine for staff even though they couldn’t do so for players. NFL coaches were also forced out of their jobs over vaccination status.
But these league policies are a mess when it comes to vaccines for players. Why is it that NBA referees, for example, are required to be vaccinated while the players who will be standing next to them on the court are not? Are athletes the only ones able to decide for themselves whether they should get the vaccine?
The NFL and MLB both force vaccinated players to miss games if they test positive for the virus, even when most of their roster is also vaccinated, and vaccinated individuals are less likely to contract or spread the virus. Perhaps more players would get vaccinated if they knew they wouldn’t be forced to miss contests, but these leagues have decided that positive tests trump remarkably effective vaccines. None of it makes sense.
But the only ones who get a choice here are the millionaire star players. Staff and lesser players who are replaceable are forced to get the vaccine if they want to keep their job (for lesser players, it’s an unofficial mandate, as the NFL preseason cuts showed). But the superstars get to choose, even though the virus doesn’t magically ignore them.
These policies don’t make sense if not everyone is mandated to follow them, nor do they treat vaccinated individuals as vaccinated individuals. Sports leagues continuing to make erratic decisions about vaccinations after being willing to play their 2020 seasons before the vaccines were available are showing that they have allowed themselves to succumb to hysteria about the virus.
