USA Winter Olympic team 100 percent vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of Beijing games

After the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee put a vaccine mandate in place in September, Team USA’s chief medical doctor has confirmed all 240 athletes representing the United States in the upcoming Beijing Winter games are fully vaccinated.

Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Finnoff told The Associated Press all the athletes were fully vaccinated and said the International Olympic Committee’s 21-day quarantine requirement for unvaccinated athletes and the vaccine education provided to the athletes by USOPC helped prompt all members of the US 2022 Olympic team to get vaccinated before the games begin on February 4. “Vaccination is sort of the foundation of our COVID mitigation protocol,” Finnoff told the Associated Press.

The requirements for the Winter Olympics are strict, both from USOPC and Beijing. The USOPC has arranged COVID testing and air travel for the athletes, most of whom will be taking charter flights to the games amid the omicron surge. The athletes will require two negative tests in order to fly, one within 96 hours of arrival in China, and another within 72.

There was no vaccination requirement for the Summer games last year in Tokyo, and about 100 of the USA’s over-600 athletes were unvaccinated at the time of the Olympic competition.