The Metropolitan Opera announced its plan to mandate coronavirus booster shots for both audience members and staff, predicting “everyone is going to be doing this” down the road.
Beginning January 17, Met staff, as well as audience members, will have to show proof of a booster shot in order to enter the performing arts center. This makes the opera house “the first major performing arts organization in the city” to announce such a mandate.
“We think we should be setting an example,” the Met’s general manager Peter Gelb said, according to the New York Times. “Hopefully we will have an influence on other performing arts companies as well. I think it’s just a matter of time — everyone is going to be doing this.”
“It’s of paramount importance that the audience members and employees feel safe when they enter the building,” he continued, adding that there is “no question” that “this is the right move.”
Per the Times:
When the Met’s new rules take effect Jan. 17, people eligible for booster shots will be required to have them to enter the opera house. (There will be a short grace period: People will be allowed in unboosted if the performance falls within two weeks of the date they become eligible for boosters. People who are not yet eligible for their booster shots will still be allowed in.) Inside the opera house, people will be required to wear face masks, except when they are eating or drinking in the limited areas where that is allowed.
New York City is already under strict coronavirus restrictions, as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) has gleefully made it virtually impossible for unvaccinated individuals to do everyday things in the city, such as dine at an indoor restaurant or go to a fitness center. However, he is not currently including a booster shot requirement in his Key to NYC vaccine passport system. Nonetheless, he recently extended requirements to children ages 5-11, meaning parents who did not get their child vaccinated will not be able to do normal things, such as dine at an indoor restaurant, with their unvaccinated child in attendance.
The Met’s requirements suggest that the warning from critics — who warned that vaccine mandates would eventually include booster shots — is coming to fruition in the United States.
Meanwhile, President Biden is still suggesting it is unpatriotic to be unvaccinated.
“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Not the vaccinated, the unvaccinated. That’s the problem,” Biden said.
“Everybody talks about freedom about not to have a shot or have a test. Well, guess what? How about patriotism? How about you make sure you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anyone else,” he added.
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