Red Sox Pitcher to Miss Toronto Game over Vax Mandates: ‘I Think it’s a Personal Choice’

Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck is expected to miss Tuesday’s game in Toronto against the Blue Jays for not being vaccinated, making it clear that it is a “personal choice.”

While the league does not require players to be vaccinated, individuals must be fully vaccinated to enter Canada. This means that unvaccinated players are not permitted to travel and participate with the team.

Batting practice at Rogers Centre in Toronto (Mark Blinch/Getty Images)

“I think it’s a personal choice for everyone whether they get it or not,” the right-hander told the Boston Globe. “So, that’s all I really got to say on it.”

He also said he is “definitely bummed” that he will not be able to make the start.

“But the starts that I am able to make, I plan on giving 100 percent for this team, if not more so,” he added. “Anything I can do for this team to help them win, I’ll do it.”

The team’s manager Alex Cora said there are other players who will not be able to participate for the same reason. 

Houck is not the only athlete who has faced these complications due to Canada’s rules. Last week, Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle revealed he would not be able to participate in his team’s start against the Toronto Raptors because he is not “fully” vaccinated, only getting one shot and ultimately refusing to finish the vaccine series, deeming him ineligible to travel into Canada.

Thybulle, who said he was raised in a “holistic” household, said he was initially “under the impression that getting vaccinated means that I could not get the disease and transmit it to other people.” However, he later realized, as many others did, that it is not the case.

“I felt like if I’m going to be a part of society in the position I’m in, I need to do what’s right for the greater good. That argument of the greater good held a lot of weight for me,” he said, explaining that “that wasn’t the case anymore, that even while being vaccinated, you can still spread the disease.”

“…with that being considered and the holistic background of my upbringing and just the way I view medicine in general, I felt like I was secure in going to the doctors that I have to treat COVID if I did get it and in the case that I did, I was able to go about it in my holistic way and I’m able to sit here today healthy and be OK because of it,” he added.