Prof: Get jab or Premier League will crash
THE Premier League is going to ‘crash’ unless players are fully vaccinated, the UK’s top sports cardiologist has warned. There is growing concern over the lack of protection against Covid-19, with rising infection rates around the top flight causing three games to be postponed this week. Sportsmail understands that the last official figures of 68 per cent of players in the Premier League being double jabbed and 49 per cent in the EFL have only risen slightly in the last few months. Professor Sanjay Sharma, chair of the FA’s cardiology consensus panel, said: ‘You do get people thinking that some of these young men are just belligerent and ignoring Government policy. ‘Apparently sensible football players say they don’t want to be vaccinated. They might become ill and you’ve just seen so many clubs are crippled and games postponed. There is a massive knock-on effect. So apart from a societal responsibility, you’ve got a responsibility to the league. If people are getting infected left, right and centre the Premier League will crash as well. ‘It’s very easy to spread in a football community. Someone who is brewing subclinical Covid will give it to five or six individuals without knowing they have it.’ Although the vaccine is known to cause a small number of myocarditis cases in younger men, Professor Sharma insists that the threat of heart-related issues from Covid itself is up to 50 times greater. He added: ‘My message is that it’s a bit of a no-brainer not to get Covid in the first place by getting vaccinated against it.’