Soccer-Premier League players to be encouraged to take COVID-19 vaccine through government videos

September 5, 2021

(Reuters) – The Premier League has teamed up with the British government to make videos that will encourage players to take the COVID-19 vaccine, British media reported on Sunday.

Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, has agreed to address concerns around the vaccine in videos that will be shared with Premier League and English Football League (EFL) clubs, as well as fans.

Reports said that the government initiated such a campaign after it was revealed that there was vaccine hesitancy among players, with Premier League managers Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Steve Bruce earlier saying that some of their players had declined to take the jab.

The Telegraph reported that around only 70% of EFL players had received at least one dose of the vaccine or were planning to get one.

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka missed Switzerland’s World Cup qualifier against Italy this week after testing positive for COVID-19, while a host of other Arsenal players, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, were infected last month.

(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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