A quarter of footballers in England’s three divisions below the Premier League do not aspire to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a new wave of infections frightens to bring the season to a stop.
The English Football League reported vaccination figures on Thursday, with 10 weekend matches rescheduled so far in the Championship, League One and League Two because of Covid-19 breakouts.
Pressure is also initiating on the Premier League to stop the campaign temporarily to allow for a circuit breaker as the number of games postponed in the top-flight over the past week climbed to five.
Britain is fighting a augment in positive cases caused by the new Omicron strain of the virus, with a record 88,376 cases recorded on Thursday.
“The latest vaccine data collated for November has shown that 75 percent of players across the EFL are either fully vaccinated, have had a single jab or intend to be vaccinated,” the EFL stated in a statement.
“Double vaccinated players total 59 percent, 16 percent are set to get the jab, while 25 percent of players currently do not intend to get a vaccine.”
The EFL vouched it aspires to carry on with its programme of matches in spite of the rising virus numbers in what should be the over-ornate period of the season.
“In the wake of recent EFL fixture postponements due to Covid-19 cases at clubs, the EFL has also provided guidance on non-fulfilment of fixtures, confirming that clubs will be expected to play where (they have) 14 players including a goalkeeper available from the club’s registered squad list,” the EFL statement appended.
The Premier League is hassled to issue similar guidance over how many positive cases are required to postpone games rather than resuming to judge each breakout on its own calibre.
Tottenham’s tour to Leicester on Thursday and Red Devil’s collision with Brighton, scheduled for Saturday, are the latest matches to be cancelled.
Liverpool’s meeting with Newcastle at Anfield is all set to go ahead and in his programme notes Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp replicated his call for all players to be vaccinated.
“I follow the advice of smart, educated people who know their field because they’ve dedicated their lives to it and have studied it,” stated Klopp.
“Ignore those who pretend to know. Ignore lies and misinformation. Listen to people who know best. If you do that, you end up wanting the vaccine and the booster.”
He disclosed on Wednesday that his entire squad has been double-vaccinated and those entitled for a booster had already had it.
