2022 Boston Marathon: Runners Must Be Vaccinated

The Boston Marathon will once again have 30,000 runners when it returns to Patriots' Day in 2022 for its 126th running, the race's organizer's said Tuesday.

All those runners will need to be fully vaccinated, the Boston Athletic Association said in a statement.

WATCH ANYTIME FOR FREE

Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are.

This year's marathon was run in October for the first time, and with a smaller field of 20,000 people.

The Boston Marathon made a triumphant return from a pandemic-enforced break — in the fall, for the first time — and it brought back some familiar and powerful emotions.

Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter.

The 30,000 participants slated for the 2022 race, scheduled for Monday, April 18, is a return to the size the race as been in recent years.

BAA President and CEO Tom Grilk noted in the announcement that the vaccination requirement is meant to help allow as many runners take part safely.

"We had a 93% vaccination rate among our 125th Boston Marathon participants and want to do our part to continue to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as we continue our return to racing," he said in a statement.