OHL announces strict vaccine guidelines
League policy requires players, coaches, billets and staff to be fully vaccinated before season starts
KITCHENER — Get vaccinated or sit out.
That’s the message from the Ontario Hockey League after issuing a new policy that requires all of its “community members” to be fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the season starts.
That means players, coaches, trainers, team and league staff, officials, volunteers and billet families will have to be double vaccinated in order to partake in the upcoming season, which begins with training camp on Sept. 4.
“I think most people are following the environment being created by the government and the medical profession as to the importance of everyone being fully vaccinated,” said OHL commissioner David Branch. “We recognize and take the responsibility to protect the health and welfare of our players very seriously. It was for that reason, among others, that we were serving the best interest of players and families to have this policy.”
A memo outlining the new rules was sent to all 20 OHL clubs last week and is effective immediately.
“This policy is necessary to prevent, respond to, and alleviate the outbreak of COVID-19 in the OHL because of the significant risk factors for COVID-19 infection that are present while participating in an organized hockey league as a player and nonplayer, both on and off the ice. These risk factors include close contact in predominantly indoor closedspace environments (i.e. arenas, dressing rooms, buses and hotels),” the memo read.
“The close contact nature of organized hockey makes compliance with social distancing impossible and reduces the effectiveness of other infectious disease transmission protocols such as masking.”
All community members have to show proof of vaccination at least two weeks before training joining the team. Staff members who don’t comply will be placed on unpaid leave while players will be removed from the roster until it’s safe to return.
Unvaccinated volunteers and billets will also be kept away from players until the pandemic no longer poses a public health risk. Kids 12 and under living in billet homes are excluded. Those who can’t get vaccinated need to provide proof as to why and won’t be allowed around the team until the threat of COVID-19 subsides.
“We filled out an accommodation process if it’s for medical or religious reasons,” said Branch. “We have an independent medical officer that will consider such requests.”
Branch added that the mandatory vaccinations, in his opinion, is no different than requiring kids to get shots to attend school and likened it to the federal government’s recent decision, as of Aug. 9, to require Americans crossing the border to be fully vaccinated. The Kitchener Rangers are “100 per cent” behind the policy.
“In my view it’s another one of these positive steps that we’ve seen over the last six or eight weeks of everything going in the right direction in getting back to normal,” said Rangers chief operating officer Joe Birch. “Safety is something we’ve been communicating with our fans, to the region and our players since day one when we were in the middle of the pandemic. In our view, this is a positive step in getting us back to normal Friday nights at the Aud.”
Birch alerted players, staff and billets about the policy last week and, so far, everyone is on board. Branch also said that no players — to date — have opposed the vaccination policy.
“I think initially there were some concerns, but I think as people think about it and they work through it (they are alleviated),” said Branch. “If there is pushback for no other reason than they don’t want to be vaccinated, we’ve got a program set up where they can be educated on the vaccine and then make their judgment based on fact.”
The OHL regular season kicks off Oct. 7.