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The newest NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball conference is doing its part to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The SIAC recently announced that all players, coaches, officials, athletics staff members and athletics auxiliary group members at schools competing in the conference are required to be fully vaccinated from the coronavirus in order to participate this school year.
The NCAA Division II conference is comprised of historical black colleges and universities and will add men’s volleyball beginning in the 2022 season. The SIAC in 2019 received a $1 million grant from the First Point Volleyball Foundation and USA Volleyball to help sponsor men’s volleyball and will feature six teams — Kentucky State, Central State, Benedict, Morehouse, Fort Valley State and Edward Waters.
“Within the context of rising COVID-19 infection rates, student-athletes are a particularly vulnerable stakeholder group who, as a result of their athletic participation, are required to travel off-campus and compete against and interact with student-athletes on other campuses,” SIAC commissioner Gregory Moore said in a statement. “These athletic related activities not only increase the risk of exposure to our student-athletes, but also increase the risk of exposure to their classmates and other campus stakeholder once those athletes return to campus. The SIAC policy decision establishing vaccination as prerequisite to intercollegiate athletic competition participation is guided by the overarching interest to protect the health and safety of SIAC student-athletes, and was decided in the light of overwhelming data and evidence which has demonstrated the effectiveness of authorized COVID-19 vaccines combating coronavirus as well as its delta variant.”
Players on SIAC teams can be exempt from receiving the vaccine if they receive approval from their school because of medical or religious reasons. Exempt players, though, will still be required to participate in all of their school’s COVID testing requirements.
The SIAC is the first multi-sport conference sponsoring NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball to require the coronavirus vaccine for players and staff.
About 168 million people in the United States have received a coronavirus vaccine and 71.8 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.