90% of the players in the Bundesliga are fully vaccinated and the league made it mandatory for all players to get a vaccine. Most other European Leagues are following under their example with 93% vaccinated in Ligue One, 94% in Serie A, and 95% in La Liga. However, the English are considerably behind with only 84% of the players in the EPL receiving a dose of the COVID vaccine and 68% receiving two. The reason? A manipulative report and a relatively smaller scarce.
A few months ago, an EPL player read a report about “young men having major medical issues after the COVID vaccine.” Naturally, the report switched hands and players refused to get vaccinated despite club protocols and vaccination booths. But the report wasn’t as sincere with its data as suggested. After examination, the report was found to be falsified on multiple accounts as most of the “young men” weren’t even young and some were even over 60. Many of the said “young men” also had underlying conditions that were acting out, rather than the vaccine. Nevertheless, it scared many players.
Players in other countries were also scared similarly but of the disease rather than the vaccine. Seeing young and healthy players like Joshua Kimmich have lung damage after recovering from COVID, German players got their jab happily. Similarly, French players went ahead with their vaccine as the nation’s star Kylian posted a picture of himself being vaccinated. Even the President himself thanked Mbappe for encouraging people to get the vaccine for themselves and their families.
On the brighter side, the EPL is quick to take action. Whether it comes to canceling games or getting entire teams tested, the league reps and clubs take security seriously. Last week as Manchester United had an outbreak, two of their games were canceled and the teams that they recently played against also got their players and staff tested.
The amount of EPL games that will be postponed in the very crucial December season is yet to be decided but their problem could be avoided if they learned from their neighboring leagues.
