The Chicago Sun-Times reported in February of 2026 that Isaiah Carranza, a 12th-round pick from 2018, blames the White Sox for pushing him to take the COVID-19 vaccination in 2021, resulting in severe allergic reactions that derailed his career.
The paper reported that Carranza was warned by team officials that he would be “blacklisted” if he didn’t get both doses of the vaccine – which he did (Pfizer), and subsequently suffered “extreme dizziness, nausea, near-fainting and a wildly fluctuating heart rate”.
In 2021, during the height of the pandemic, the CDC’s recommendations were universal and strongly encouraged. Current CDC recommendations have marked a significant policy shift, emphasizing individualized risk assessment, treating COVID-19 vaccination more as an optional, but beneficial, tool – prioritizing those at greatest risk while de-emphasizing routine use for healthy, lower-risk individuals due to changed disease dynamics and evidence.
