ASPEN, Colo. — The U.S. Olympic top doctor says all of the 200-plus athletes heading to Beijing for the Olympics next month are fully vaccinated, and not a single one asked for a medical exemption.
Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Finnoff told The Associated Press the 21-day quarantine period the hosts are requiring for unvaccinated participants, combined with the education the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee provided “really resonated with the athletes.”
“Vaccination is sort of the foundation of our COVID mitigation protocol,” Finnoff said Thursday.
In September, the USOPC introduced a policy requiring U.S. athletes to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 1 unless they had a medical exemption. About a month later, the IOC put out guidelines calling for full vaccinations or a three-week quarantine period upon entering China.
Heading into Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year, Finnoff estimated that 100 of the more than 600 Americans competing weren’t vaccinated.
The U.S. will finalize the members of the winter team this week. Qualifying for the Paralympics is still ongoing, but Finnoff said so far, the USOPC hasn’t received requests for exemptions from potential Paralympians.
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