Managers and captains from across the English Football League joined representatives from the PFA and LMA to ask questions about the coronavirus vaccine on behalf of their team-mates during an hour-long session with deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van Tam.
Wednesday 15 September 2021 12:01, UK
The EFL is understood to be encouraging players to get a COVID vaccination following an hour-long Q&A session with deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van Tam.
Managers and captains from across all three divisions joined representatives from the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), League Managers Association (LMA) and the EFL to ask questions on behalf of their team-mates.
Topics included the potential impact of the vaccine on fertility and heart inflammation, while Van Tam gave an overview of the benefits of players being vaccinated.
During the session, Van Tam and other specialist doctors on the call talked about how footballers have been hospitalised with COVID and that getting 'long COVID' could severely impact the careers of professional players.
They also stressed there are no animal products in vaccines and no alcohol in the Pfizer vaccine.
With many countries insisting on a COVID passport for travel, Van Tam and his team underlined how failure to get a double vaccination could impact players' ability to travel and play in European or international fixtures.
Earlier this month, a report in The Telegraph revealed that almost a third of EFL players had not received a jab and had no plans to do so.
