(Credit: Metropolitan Opera official website)

The Metropolitan Opera has announced that it will mandate a COVID booster shot for all those eligible to receive it, beginning January 17, 2022.

From Jan. 17, entry to the Met will be restricted to those who have received the booster shot, if eligible. Those not yet eligible will be able to continue to enter but must receive the booster shot shortly after they become eligible. For those who are not eligible for a booster until after January 17, the Met will allow a two-week grace period to schedule and receive the booster upon becoming eligible. After the two weeks have passed, entry will not be allowed until the booster has been received.

Recipients of the Pfizer (age 16+) or Moderna (age 18+) vaccines become eligible for a booster six months after their second dose, and recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine become eligible two months after their single dose, said the opera house in an official statement.

“We want everyone who enters our opera house to feel safe,” said Met General Manager Peter Gelb in an official statement. “We worked hard to reopen in September, and we’re certainly not giving up now. I’m confident that our employees know this action is in their best interests and that our audiences will be in agreement, too.”

The decision has been taken in response to the incoming wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and the new scientific studies that show that only COVID mRNA vaccine booster shot offers protection against the new and aggressive coronavirus variant.