Canada has mandated that all its Olympics athletes and support staff be vaccinated to participate in the Beijing Winter Games next year.
On Wednesday, Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic Committees announced its vaccine mandate, saying the decision was made in cooperation with the country’s boards of directors and athlete commissions, Global News reported.
The rule is unsurprising after Canada’s federal government ruled that all air travelers going in and out of the country must be fully vaccinated by October 20.
Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker pointed out that the country’s athletes and staffers are close to being fully vaccinated, and no coronavirus cases have been reported since the Summer Games in Japan.
The U.S. Olympics authorities had already enacted its vax, or no games mandate in September, saying that U.S. athletes and support staff must be fully vaccinated by December or face being excluded from the coming Winter games.
Complicating matters, China has a strict 21-day quarantine period for all unvaccinated foreign travelers.
China has also closed the games to all foreign fans and has announced that only Chinese citizens may attend the games as spectators.
“Tickets will be sold exclusively to spectators residing in China’s mainland, who meet the requirements of the COVID-19 countermeasures,” the IOC said last month. “Specific requirements on COVID-19 countermeasures for spectators from China’s mainland and the details of ticketing arrangements are under discussion and development and will be released to the public in due course once they are finalized.”
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