Ohio State vaccination requirement is welcome news for Ryan Day’s Buckeyes

A new policy from Ohio State will require every student to get the COVID-19 vaccine. This is great news for Ryan Day’s Buckeyes.

Every Ohio State football player will be vaccinated ahead of the 2021 college football season.

While Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day believed his team would be close to 100 percent at Big Ten Media Days, a new university policy will now make that a fact. He stopped short of personally mandating it, but said the majority of players were fully vaccinated. As of Monday, Day said about 10 players were still not vaccinated.

On Tuesday evening, Ohio State President Kristina Johnson released an announcement to students, faculty and staff mandating they receive the COVID-19 vaccine now that the Pfizer version has been granted FDA approval.

"There is strong support for this requirement in our community, including student, faculty, staff and university leadership. From the beginning of the pandemic, we have made data-driven, science-based decisions and followed the guidance of medical and public health professionals, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local public health partners. The health and safety of our community is and always will be a top priority. Thank you for doing your part to protect our campus community."

Ohio State football players, coaches and staff will reach 100 percent vaccination

Ohio State’s announcement came hours after LSU instituted the same policy and you can expect several more schools across the country to follow a similar protocol.

Some professional organizations are already making policies for their fans to show proof of vaccination or a negative test.

Requiring vaccinations for students has been commonplace for more than a century in the United States.

This is good news for Ohio State football fans because this goes a long way toward ensuring there won’t be any COVID outbreaks within the team that could result in a game being forfeited and their Big Ten and/or national title hopes slipping away.

Any games that can’t be played this year won’t be rescheduled, unlike last year. If a team doesn’t meet the roster threshold to play, they will forfeit and it will be ruled a loss.

With Day’s Buckeyes looking to win another Big Ten title and return to the National Championship Game, this is a competitive advantage they’ll bring to the field on top of their natural talent and coaching acumen.

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