THREE LIONS midfielder Jude Bellingham says he is proud to have had three jabs on his arm – and urged his fellow pros to have their Covid vaccinations.
The 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund starlet joined the 94 per cent of Bundesliga players who have been double-vaccinated and went a step further recently by topping up his immunity levels with a booster jab.
Premier League players are lagging behind with 77 per cent of players double jabbed.
Even more worryingly, last week 25 per cent of EFL players say they have no intention of being jabbed – despite a spike in Covid cases leading to a spate of weekend postponements.
Bellingham says he feels safer having had the precautionary jabs and believes Germany is getting it right.
He said: “I’ve had both jabs and the booster, just to be safe. I don’t want to be passing anything on to my family and be having to miss games myself.
“It’s not for me to sit here and say everyone has to get vaccinated, it is a personal choice … obviously I want everyone to be safe, so I’d probably advise them to get it.”
In England the vaccination rate for under-40’s is below 75 per cent and Bellingham hopes his words will not fall on deaf ears.
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He was backed by his England manager Gareth Southgate who also wants as many people as possible to protect themselves and others by taking the vaccinations as the Omicron variant continues to spread at an alarming rate.
Southgate told the BBC: “The only way through it is to fight the virus collectively – for health reasons; for the economy; for everything.
“We all have that responsibility to think of other people as well as ourselves at times like this. I don’t see another way out of the situation we’re in.
“I understand people had concerns about the testing and what it might lead to. But I think we’ve got huge medical experience and if you’re listening to the right experts, that should give people comfort in that situation.”
Denmark’s Christian Eriksen, Barcelona’s Sergio Aguero and Wigan’s Charlie Wyke have all suffered heart scares in recent times.
But top doctors have rejected any links with the side effects of Covid vaccinations.
Sports cardiologist Dr Jansay Sharma said: “I’m very heavily involved in football and am aware of the cardiac issues that have affected some football players.
“One thing I’d confirm is that the events you have read about are not linked to Covid infection or the vaccine so it’s very important to get that message across.
“We need to respect an individual’s autonomy – but my message to them is that the risk [of heart muscle inflammation] from vaccines is extremely small – 1 in 20,000-50,000.
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“The risk with Covid infection is 20-50 times higher. I think we have a societal responsibility to try to curb the virus. They’re also role models.
“If top players say they don’t want to be vaccinated then you can imagine some people saying: ‘Why should I get vaccinated then?’
“For all of these reasons, I would encourage young players to get vaccinated.”
