Premier League players and staff face compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 as part of government plans to keep the league going if the country is forced into a winter lockdown.
Reports this week suggested that football fans will have to prove they are double jabbed with a ‘Covid passport’ in order to attend Premier League fixtures.
Now, it seems footballers and support staff will be told the same.
Players will have to prove they have had two vaccinations by October 1, meaning players who are yet to have their second jab have 10 weeks to do so, the Daily Mail reports.
According to reports, the Premier League backs the plans as it wants to see full crowds at stadiums as soon as possible.
Last season, players were told to test twice a week in order to keep the league going with little interruption throughout lockdowns.
However, under new government guidance this will no longer be enough with hopes of large crowd returning to Premier League stadiums.
There was concern among clubs over being seen to jump the vaccination queue with just two of England’s top tier teams having all players and staff vaccinated so far, according to reports.
It is thought players unwilling to be vaccinated may be able to seek exemption on medical or religious grounds but no such process has yet been established.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article