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The COVID-19 pandemic has taken another turn with the gradual rise of Omicron variant related cases in the UK. This situation provoked emergency meetings to analyze start-stop cycles of club operations due to the surge in cases at various Premier League clubs, which started off severely with the cancellation of Tottenham Hotspurs’ game where players and majority of the coaching staff contracted the virus.
The Premier League leaders have started raising the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations to ensure prevention of the virus's spread within each club in order to prevent games behind-closed-doors and avoid congestion of fixtures in the coming months. The Telegraph exclusively revealed that clubs were considering clauses in new contracts to ensure players are fully vaccinated.
Many top-flight clubs want to ensure protection of players within their bubble and limit damages caused by the virus’s volatile nature to spread quickly within closed spaces. At Bayern Munich, few unvaccinated player’s wages were docked as they came in contact with contagious players. Several figures from top clubs have come out in the public supporting the Premier League’s motion for ensuring players to be double-jabbed.
Jurgen Klopp and Ralf Rangnick, managers of Liverpool and Manchester United shared similar views and believed that serious consideration should be given to whether clubs sign unvaccinated players in coming transfer windows. Their concerns were mature as they were aware of the dangerous impacts the virus could have on unvaccinated personnel. Both the German managers were conscious of lingering effects of COVID-19 on Bayern Munich’s posterboy Joshua Kimmich, who was unvaccinated while contracting the virus.
Kimmich will be unavailable until January after suffering minor lung issues due to COVID19 in early November. He told German TV channel ZDF about regretting early decisions. Sports Medicine specialist Robert Margerie revealed that Kimmich suffered from lung infiltration, a reaction caused by collection of fluids, which could even cause mild pneumonia.
Meanwhile, increasing cases have forced clubs to start youth players, which could accelerate bigger issues in terms of spread due to inconsistent protocols. Alan Pace, Burnley’s chairman said that he won’t impose his will on players but their personal choices shouldn't impact another person's health.