Guardiola urges his players to get booster shots

LONDON • Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has urged his players to get their Covid-19 vaccine booster shots and advised them to be careful amid a surge in cases in Britain.

The uptick has been linked to the new Omicron variant and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that at least one person had died because of the mutant strain.

The UK Health Security Agency has warned that Omicron - first detected in South Africa and Botswana late last month - can overcome the immunity of those who have had two shots of vaccines such as AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech and is more transmissible than the Delta variant.

In light of the news, Guardiola wants his players to get a third jab.

"Absolutely, the doctors suggest they have to do it," the Catalan said, when asked about his team getting the booster shots.

"We speak with the players every day to say be careful. Stay healthy, wear masks, social distance.

"It's Christmas, the tendency is to party and go out. But the virus is still here. The virus doesn't allow you to suffer much, but cases rise day by day, so just be careful."

League chiefs announced in October that 81 per cent of Premier League players had received at least one shot, with 68 per cent double vaccinated and those numbers have reportedly risen in the last six weeks.

City mandates imposed by New York and San Francisco have resulted in unvaccinated National Basketball Association players like Kyrie Irving being frozen out.

In the German Bundesliga, unvaccinated players who test positive or are forced to isolate have had their salaries docked.

There is currently no suggestion that British authorities are planning a similar clampdown on the activities of unvaccinated players.

However, Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has said the club could discuss the vaccine status of potential signings when they look to bolster their squad during the January transfer window.

Unvaccinated players may miss out on a lucrative move to Villa Park should they choose not to get jabbed, the Liverpool great admitted.

"I've been really impressed with (sporting director) Johan Lange and the guys around him in recruitment and scouting, in terms of the details and work I've seen so far. We look at everything. So I'm sure it (vaccination) will come up," Gerrard said.

"But we'll obviously make decisions as and when we decide a certain person is the one who could come in and make us better. We'll go across it with a fine-toothed comb... it would certainly come into conversations in the background."

REUTERS