Sanity Prevails: NFL to Test Vaccinated Players Less Frequently

The NFL has displayed few strokes of genius over the last few years, but their revision to the league’s current coronavirus testing procedures is nothing short of brilliant.

Faced with a surge of nearly 100 positive coronavirus tests in recent days – the vast majority of them occurring among players who were healthy enough to practice and play – the NFL and NFL Players Association announced on Saturday that vaccinated and asymptomatic players will be tested less frequently.

(JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

According to a joint statement from the NFL and NFLPA:

The NFL and NFLPA have been engaged with our medical advisors to address the emergence of the new Omicron variant and how to stop the spread to ensure we keep everyone safe and complete the remainder of the season responsibly.

The intensive protocols implemented last week and the rescheduling of three games were designed to stop the transmission of the virus and play this week’s games safely. After this weekend’s games, we have agreed to put into place a new set of protocols, which will include a more targeted testing plan, more flexibility for players to attend meetings virtually and also a high-risk player opt-out for the remainder of the season.

The new protocols are a significant departure from the league’s previous testing regime.

As ESPN reports:

Under the original 2021 COVID-19 protocols, vaccinated players and personnel were required to be tested every week. The new program eliminates that requirement and moves instead to a system under which vaccinated players and personnel will be screened more stringently for COVID-19 symptoms and tested less frequently. Any vaccinated individual who shows symptoms will be isolated and tested immediately, while those who do not show symptoms will be subject to what the league and players’ union are describing as ‘targeted testing,’ in which a specific group of individuals (such as a position group) will be tested one week, another the next, etc.

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 04: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wears a protective face covering due to the Covid-19 pandemic before the Las Vegas Raiders play against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on October 4, 2021 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

In many ways, the league’s revisions make sense out of the nonsense that existed prior to the new rules. What was the incentive for an NFL player to get vaccinated if he was going to be tested just as frequently as an unvaccinated player? Under these rules, a vaccinated player has to actually show symptoms to have his eligibility to play put in jeopardy by a test, as long as his position group is not the group selected for “targeted testing.”

Unvaccinated players will continue to be tested weekly.

It took a long time, but the NFL got something right.

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