8 Yankees Players and Staff Test Positive for COVID-19 Despite Being Vaccinated Before Diagnosis
Eight New York Yankees players and staff members that recently tested positive for COVID-19 were vaccinated before getting the virus.
All of the players and staffers were given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine but not all got a shot from the same batch.
The latest player revealed to test positive this week is Gleyber Torres, MLB revealed in a press release Thursday.
“The Yankees can today confirm that INF Gleyber Torres has received a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. He was fully vaccinated and previously had COVID-19 during the most recent baseball offseason,” MLB stated.
Torres is asymptomatic, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in a press conference Thursday.
The MLB player is “the eighth Yankees player, coach or traveling staff member to test positive this week. All of the positives are breakthrough positives, occurring with individuals who were fully vaccinated,” the MLB press release stated.
Other positive cases include Coach Matt Blake, Coach Phil Nevin, Coach Reggie Willits and four members of the Yankees’ traveling staff, MLB revealed. All eight are currently in quarantine.
“Major League Baseball, its medical experts and the New York State Department of Health are currently advising and assisting the Yankees, who continue to undergo additional testing and contact tracing,” the statement concluded.
The Yankees players and coaching staff were given the Johnson & Johnson vaccination on April 7, MLB previously reported.
However, Coach Nevin received the Johnson & Johnson vaccination during spring training in Florida in March, the NY Times and The Athletic reported.
“I think one of the things we’re seeing is that being vaccinated en masse like we are, we’re seeing the vaccinations also kind of blunt the effects of the virus,” Boone said in a press conference on Wednesday. “I feel like in a lot of ways, because we’re vaccinated, we’re kind of good and able to deal with this. So there’s a little bit of a frustrating part there, in all the testing that we’re gonna do.”
Although Torres is the latest player and staff member to test positive for COVID-19 this week, Boone said on Thursday, “Today was the first day of no new cases.”
The New York State Department of Health is investigating why and how the players tested positive a month after getting vaccinated, ESPN reported.
“While there have been anecdotal reports of New Yorkers who have had a positive COVID test 14 or more days after receiving their last vaccine dose, DOH is investigating those cases along with the ones linked to the Yankees further to determine if they meet the formal CDC definition of vaccine breakthrough,” the NY DOH told the outlet in a statement.
The NY DOH did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request to comment.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “74.4% effective and 72% effective in preventing moderate to severe/critical COVID-19 occurring at least 14 days and 28 days after vaccination, respectively” in Americans, according to the FDA.
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