The newly-named Cleveland Guardians have made waves in the world of baseball, changing their name after 107-years of being known as the Cleveland Indians.
And they are now making waves with their requirements in order to be employed by the organization.
On Wednesday, Robert Murray of Fansided reported that the Guardians will implement a vaccine mandate for their office-based employees. According to Murray, the Guardians sent an email to their employees around a month ago stating the vaccine requirement and have followed up with multiple emails since.
In a Tuesday email obtained by Fansided, the Guardians reminded their employees that they must be vaccinated by January 3, 2022.
“The Policy requires that all Executive Office and Service Level Employees or ‘Covered Employees’ who are not subject to any exemption be fully vaccinated by January 3, 2022,” the email reads.
The email goes on to inform employees that there must be a two-week gap after receiving either the second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single dose Johnson & Johnson shot, to be considered fully vaccinated.
“That means that – absent any exemption – all Executive Office and Service Level employees must receive either their second Moderna/Pfizer shot, or single Johnson and Johnson shot by December 20, 2021,” the email continues. “Remember: there is an approximately three-week (Pfizer) or four-week (Moderna) gap between the first and second doses of the two-dose vaccines, so meeting these deadlines will require advanced planning. Failure to comply with this Policy will result in termination.”
The Guardians are only the third MLB team to mandate vaccines, with the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals being the other two.
“Like many organizations, the Washington Nationals decided to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for all full-time staff,” the Nationals said in a September statement to ESPN. “Employees were notified of this policy on August 12 and had until August 26th to either provide proof of full vaccination, proof of first shot or apply for an exemption. As a company, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep one another safe and felt that mandating vaccines was the absolute right thing to do for our employees and our community.”
Much like other professional sports leagues, Major League Baseball began requiring employees — such as managers and trainers — who work in close contact with players to be fully vaccinated before the start of the 2021 postseason.
“MLB will require non-playing personnel (managers, coaches, athletic trainers, etc.) to be vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to gain access to field and other restricted areas in postseason, sources tell [The Athletic],” baseball writer Ken Rosenthal said on Twitter.
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Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].