Thankfully for much of the UK population, most of the vulnerable age groups have now been vaccinated against Covid-19 with a first dose.
The promised roll-out by the government has continued apace and, unlike other aspects of their coronavirus response, has worked incredibly well to this point.
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Notwithstanding its success, England manager, Gareth Southgate, has sounded the alarm with regard to footballers and the lack of vaccinations amongst that group.
Given that the elite players in the game have still been travelling all over the continents to fulfil fixtures in either the Champions League, Europa League or internationals, there is clearly a need to ensure that they too are given the jab as soon as practicable.
“We are moving to the stage where we are asking athletes to put themselves in situations where they are more likely to catch the virus than others and I think we have a bit of a responsibility to them as well,” Southgate was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
“My view would have been we were close to getting to the point where it would have been acceptable for professional sportsmen to be on that list.
“We are asking them to keep playing.
“I was not in any way suggesting they should have been ahead of key workers and teachers who should be ahead but we are getting close to the points where it could be acceptable and actually, football could afford to save the NHS money by buying the vaccines and administering them.”
It’s unlikely his pleas will fall on deaf ears, simply because there is a need to ensure players are immunised.
However, there’s no timetable as to when this should be done so it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the government will fast-track the jabs for footballers or not.