it’s an honor just to be vaccinated

When nominees head to the Dolby Theatre next month for the in-person 2022 Academy Awards, they reportedly won’t need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The 2022 Oscars will have no COVID-19 vaccine requirement, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline. Attendees will instead only have to show a negative COVID-19 test result. 

This is in contrast to the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards, at which “all ticketed attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination plus booster shot” in addition to two negative COVID-19 test results. The Critics Choice Awards, which will be held on March 13, will also require proof of COVID-19 vaccination and a negative test result. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, though, merely plans to “suggest” attendees of the Oscars be vaccinated, Variety reports. 

The Academy’s decision not to require vaccination adheres to current health requirements in Los Angeles. But the Reporter writes that insiders speculated the Academy is being “less stringent” with its COVID-19 protocols because “more than a few high-profile industry figures — including at least one of last year’s acting winners and prominent members of the casts of multiple Best Picture nominees, as well as nominees in other categories — would otherwise be precluded from attending the Oscars.” 

The 2021 Academy Awards were held in-person last April, but in a stripped-down form, with a limited number of attendees gathering at a train station. This time, the plan is to return the Oscars to its traditional venue of Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre. But the Academy hasn’t detailed its COVID-19 protocols, and according to Deadline, it’s still unclear how large the crowd will be.