Yankees: Two Vaccinated Coaches Positive for COVID-19

Two coaches for the New York Yankees that were previously vaccinated have now tested positive for COVID-19. 

The Yankees made the announcement prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Rays that third base coach Phil Nevin had tested positive. After the Yankees had won the game, the team said first base coach Reggie Willits and a support staff member had also testing positive.

Nevin, Willits and the staff member were all fully vaccinated. These breakthrough cases are rare, with the CDC reporting that it had only tracked 9,245 such incidents out of 95 million vaccinated people. 

“We have a few other staff, coaches that are still pending and we don’t have confirmation on,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday before the Rays game, per The Associated Press. “There’s a few people that we sent home just as a precaution to make sure. We’re doing all we can to stay healthy. A little bit of a skeleton staff, but nothing we can’t handle.” 

The Yankees still plan to play their scheduled game on Wednesday night.

Yankees players and coaches received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on April 7.

“Hopefully the fact that we’re vaccinated en masse is something that will blunt this and allow a number of us to not get anything, and keep symptoms at a minimum if anything does get through,” the manager said.