Vaccination of footballers in Kenya

In a bid to return to the normal activities in the Kenyan football industry, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) reuqested the government to assist with the vaccination of footballers in the top leagues of the male and female sides. This exercise has awaken mixed feelings amongst the footballers due to the poor communication between the federation, teams and footballers. Some of the players who choose to remain anonymous have raised concerns on the mode of conveying the message as well us the lack of sufficient information concerning the vaccination process.

For the Kenya Premier League (KPL) players, a letter from the federation dated 8^th of April pointed out that the federation had requested the government to be considered to have the footballers vaccinated. In that same letter, a date had already been set for the exercise to be conducted. This was a very short period to communicate this to the teams and the players. Teams sent text messages to the players on Friday the 9th, some of these text messages were perceived as “threats” and not a request to get the vaccine. Without enough information, the players were told that they must take the vaccine failure to which they would not be allowed to play. Not being able to play would mean that they don’t get their salary. Harrison Mwendwa expressed his concerns on twitter asking how safe the Covid-19 vaccine that they were requested to take, is to especially footballers.

In another case Harriet Fakhiri a player for Makolanders which features in the women premier league, also expressed her concerns on the lack of advocacy and suffiecient information revolving around the vaccine. She mentions that footballers were left with a choice to either get the vaccine or risk losing their football career that they had worked hard for.

A special episode of The Baller Touchline Show, took up this conversation and discussion to highlight on the vaccination exercise that footballers had been subjected to. The special panel emphasized that no one was against the vaccine and no one meant the vaccine was not good. The main concern was how the process was conducted from the communication by the federation to the teams and from the teams to the players. Dr. Bill mentioned that the federation rushed the exercise and advocacy was vital. The players needed information on the vaccine, it’s importance, side effects and everything revolving around the vaccine.

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