Sean Dyche has called for fast-tracked coronavirus vaccines in football, diverting the money saved on research to the NHS. Dyche revealed there were “a couple” of Covid-19 cases in the Clarets camp before Saturday’s FA Cup home encounter against MK Dons.
Dyche also spoke of the advantages he thinks could come from “getting some vaccinations faster throughout football. He did not mean that footballers could take precedence over “essential people who need vaccinations” such as key staff, the elderly, and the vulnerable, but talked about benefits.
“I think vaccination is the way forward throughout football,” said Dyche. “I can only talk for the Premier League because I’m in the Premier League, but I think it would be good for football. I appreciate some people will be surprised by that comment, but if you think about it rationally, we are all going to get vaccinated.
‘A lot of people wanted football back, the cash it generates through tax, the wellbeing of what the players do many times has been seen, there’s a lot of good going through football.’
“The amount of money being spent on testing in the Premier League, if that money was channeled back into the NHS and the vaccinations system, surely that’s a better place to be than it is just continuing testing a load of footballers two, three, four times a week. I appreciate there’ll be some people who say, ‘why should footballers get vaccinated?’, but … if there are 20 Premier League clubs and 100 vaccinations at a club, let’s say, I would imagine the payback to the system, the NHS and the vaccination system, financially, would be considerable.
Three days after the MK Dons match, Dyche’s side is scheduled to host Manchester United in the Premier League. He added: “We have a couple of cases that will affect us over the coming days.” It is likely that the next two games will be affected. On Friday, we are being re-tested again, so we’re going to have to see what the next round brings.
