Premier League players and staff are mandated to receive double coronavirus vaccination in the first half of the 2021-2022 season.
The coronavirus protocol is to ensure that players don’t contract the virus when the Premier League season is ongoing. Recall that some games had to be postponed last season because some clubs reported a high number of coronavirus infections. This almost disrupted the Premier League calendar.
Hence, this time around, the management of the Premier League is trying to ensure that the Premier League players, the technical crew, and every staff linked to all the clubs are fully vaccinated.
A report by Daily Mail noted that some Premier League players and staff must receive double doses of the coronavirus vaccines before October 1, 2021. Afterward, the rest of the players and staff would be given 10 weeks grace to get their double vaccinations.
The league body decided to enforce the plan because they intend to have more spectators at Premier League match venues later on in the 2021-2022 season and beyond.
Recall that when the coronavirus pandemic broke out across the world in February 2020, the Premier League was put on hold in mid-March 2020. The break lasted until June that same year before the remaining part of the 2019-2020 season was played.
During that period, all games were played behind closed doors which affected the revenue of clubs and that of the league body.
In some parts of the 2020-2021 season, some of the league games were allowed to be played in the presence of a controlled amount of spectators which did not last throughout the season.
Due to the loss in revenue and the beauty of having spectators at match venues during Premier League games, the league body had to come up with a policy that would permit spectators who have ‘Covid passport’, that is, people who have received double vaccinations, to attend league games.
To expand that policy more and to ensure that both the spectators, the players, and the staff are saved during league games, the Premier League players and staff have to be double vaccinated.
It is being reported in the United Kingdom that some residents of the country are having ill-feeling about the coronavirus vaccines even though it is believed that it would keep them immune to the virus.
A couple of people who have taken double doses of the vaccines in the UK allegedly claimed that they are experiencing some side effects which have been scaring people away from taking the vaccines.
Hence, the reported plan of the Premier League to mandate the league’s players and staff to take the vaccines is seen by some analysts as a way to encourage followers of the league to be more receptive to the intake of the vaccines.
For Premier League matches from October 1st onwards, ALL players, staff and match-going fans will have to be double-vaccinated against COVID-19.
— COYS.com (@COYS_com) July 23, 2021
Players will not be available for selection without proof they have had their two doses of the vaccine. [@TheAthleticUK] pic.twitter.com/CpAR2jlege
The 2021-2022 Premier League season will kick off on August 13, 2021, and end on May 22, 2022.
