A sheath is placed over a crimped scaffold to reduce recoil of the crimped polymer scaffold and maintain scaffold-balloon engagement relied on to hold the scaffold to the balloon when the scaffold is being delivered to a target in a body. The sheath has an opening spanning the length of the sheath. The opening spans an arc length of about 90 degrees with respect to the circumference of the scaffold or balloon. The sheath may be removed from the scaffold by pinching the sheath between a thumb and forefinger, or bending or peeling back the sheath from the edges of the opening using fingertips.