Multiple Cubs coaches recommend COVID-19 vaccine originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Cubs coaches Craig Driver and Chris Young were partially vaccinated for COVID-19 when they tested positive for the virus, and according to Cubs manager David Ross, they recommend the shots.
“They don't want to scare anybody,” Ross said. “They think that the fact that they've had the shot is actually a positive. … They think the reason they feel as good as they do is because they've had some version of the shot.”
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Both coaches gave Ross their permission to share their vaccination history.
Driver, the Cubs first-base coach, had already had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and was waiting the recommended 21 days in between shots when he tested positive last week. Ross said Saturday that Driver was feeling “a little under the weather.”
Young, the Cubs bullpen coach, has received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those who take a two-dose vaccine are only considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second shot.
Sunday would have marked two weeks after Young’s second shot, Ross said, and it’s likely that he contracted the virus before then. The Cubs announced Young’s positive test on Monday, but according to the CDC, the incubation period for COVID-19 is thought to extend up to 14 days.
Young “feels completely fine,” Ross said.
“I wanted to get that information out there for them,” Ross said of Driver and Young’s vaccination history. “We are taking this seriously and we're trying to get everybody as vaccinated as we possibly can.”
The vaccine is optional for MLB players and staff members, but teams that have 85 percent of Tier 1 individuals vaccinated may have specific health and safety protocols relaxed.
“Let’s be honest, the goal should be 100 percent,” Ross said this past weekend. “So, that’s what we’re shooting for.”
