Premier League double-vaccination rate remains way behind Italy's Serie A

Premier League double-vaccination rate remains way behind Italy's Serie A
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Luke Ridley

By Luke Ridley


Published: 20/12/2021

- 20:12

Updated: 20/12/2021

- 20:13

77 per cent of Premier League players being double vaccinated, this remains significantly lower than the likes of Italy's Serie A, which has vaccination figures of 98 per cent.

The Premier League is still lagging behind Europe’s other leading competitions despite 77 per cent of its players being double vaccinated.

The figure is an increase of nine per cent on its previous figures in October, but remains significantly lower than the likes of Serie A, which has reported full vaccination figures of 98 per cent.


Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and LaLiga have also reportedly achieved fully vaccinated figures of 90 per cent or more.

The Premier League revealed that 16 per cent of players have yet to receive a single vaccine dose, with the remaining 84 per cent described by the league as being “on the vaccination journey”.

A double vaccination status is critical in order to minimise postponements, given the difference in isolation rules depending on an affected player’s vaccination status.

Any unvaccinated or single-vaccinated player has to isolate if deemed a close contact of someone confirmed to have Covid and therefore becomes an unavailable player themselves, whereas a double-vaccinated player simply has to keep testing.

The NHS reports that among 25-to-29-year-olds, 78.5 per cent have only received one dose of a vaccine. The average age of a Premier League player is 26.9.

Among players and staff combined, 92 per cent have had at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose so far.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters wrote to clubs last week urging them to “strongly encourage” players to get vaccinated, while Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said getting the jabs was the “socially responsible” thing to do.

The league later on Monday evening announced that 90 new Covid cases were registered last week, from a record 12,345 tests administered on top-flight clubs’ players and staff.

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