August 25, 2021 – Vaccination Information

NLLPA Members,

The NLLPA and the League strongly encourages you to receive your COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible!

Training Camp is scheduled to begin on October 22, just 8 weeks from now.  It is important that you know that in order to be fully vaccinated prior to the start of Training Camp, the last date for you to receive your first dose is September 7, 2021.

The NLLPA will not be agreeing to make vaccinations mandatory.  However, for health and safety as well as logistical reasons we are encouraging all players to get vaccinated.  Particularly, due to federal, provincial, state, cross-border and individual arena rules and regulations.  

Although the rules and protocols continue to evolve, Canada has stated that it will require passengers traveling by air to be fully vaccinated, and several arenas have already announced that vaccines will be required to enter the building (with more to come). Both the NLLPA and the league are monitoring these developments closely.

If you have any medical questions about the vaccine, the league has made the following medical professionals available to answer your questions: Dr. Marcus Robinson, Chair of the NLL Medical Committee ([email protected]) or Dr. Cole Beavis, Vice Chair of the NLL Medical Committee ([email protected])

 

League Rules and Regulations

The NLL has the right to impose rules on situations where an unvaccinated player contracts COVID-19.  You can expect communication from them in the coming days.

• The League has stated: “To the extent players are not vaccinated, we will be developing separate protocols for those players which will mandate masks and other protective measures to ensure that we minimize the likelihood of COVID-19 impacting the League’s operations. Those policies are being developed and will be shared prior to the start of Training Camp.“

Please see below for examples of policies other leagues have developed for their professional leagues:

• The NFL has not made the vaccine mandatory for players, but it will not be accommodating COVID-19 outbreaks among unvaccinated players that lead to a game cancellation in 2021-22.
• The NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams in July that said if a game cannot be rescheduled during the season due to a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated players, the team with the outbreak will be credited with a loss in a forfeit.
  • On top of that, no players on either team will be paid for the canceled game. The team with the outbreak will then be forced to cover financial losses and be subject to possible discipline from the league.

For more information about COVID rule and vaccine guidelines for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL please see the below article: