NYC mayor officially exempts athletes, performers from COVID vax mandate

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams officially exempted athletes and performers from the city’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Thursday.

The vaccination mandate affected New York City sports teams. Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving was among those and had been defiant against getting the jab since the start of the 2021-22 season. The mandate would have blocked some New York Yankees and New York Mets baseball players from taking the field to start the season too.

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Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving reacts after hitting a shot during the second half of the team's NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

"I’m going to make some tough choices. People are not going to agree with some of them," Adams said. "I must move this city forward."

Adams made the announcement at Citi Field alongside Mets general manager Sandy Alderson.

Irving, who is unvaccinated, was not permitted to play in any games in New York City this season due to the mandate. However, he was able to come to the Barclays Center as a fan and watch the Nets play from a paid seat. He made his season debut in January after the Nets said to start the season he would be kept out over his decision not to get the vaccine.

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Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving, far right, watches the game between the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks at the Barclays Center, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver chimed in on the city's rule last month, saying it "doesn’t quite make sense."

"This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players," Silver said. "I think if ultimately that rule is about protecting people who are in the arena, it just doesn’t quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays, but the home player can’t. To me, that’s a reason they should take a look at that ordinance."

Last week, Aaron Judge refused to directly answer a question about his vaccine status.

"I’m still focused on just getting to the first game of spring training," Judge said at the team's Florida training complex. "So I think we’ll cross that bridge after the time comes. But right now, so many things could change. So I’m not really too worried about that right now."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams marches in the St. Patrick's Day Parade up 5th Ave. on March 17, 2022 in New York City.  (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

Since taking office, Adams has been relaxing COVID-19 policies put in place by former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Last week, Adams said he expected to eventually roll back the city’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for private-sector employers.

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Adams has already announced plans to lift the mask mandate on April 4 for toddlers in city daycare centers.

Fox News’ David Aaro and the Associated Press contributed to this report.