Sixty-eight percent of English Premier League players have been fully vaccinated and 81% of players have received at least one Covid-19 vaccination dose, the league announced in a statement on Tuesday.
No specific details as to clubs or individual levels were provided in the statement.
The league said vaccination rates are collected on a weekly basis and that it continues to “work with clubs to encourage vaccination among players and club staff.”
Currently, 85.9% of the UK population aged 12 and over has received at least one dose and 78.9% has received two doses.
On Monday, the Premier League announced that it had recorded six new positive tests for Covid-19 out of 3,044 tests carried out on players and club staff between Monday, October 11 and Sunday, October 17.
Earlier this month, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told reporters that “99%” of his squad had been vaccinated and expressed frustration at the apparent slow uptake at rival teams, saying that refusing to take the vaccine “is a little bit like drink-driving.”
In August, England manager Gareth Southgate said he had received abuse for appearing in a video encouraging young people to get vaccinated.
And the BBC reported that in an email sent by the Premier League to its clubs in September, the organization said “only seven clubs’ squads are more than 50% fully vaccinated, so we have a way to go.
“We are considering if and how best we can ‘reward’ those squads/players who are most Covid-compliant and who have opted to be vaccinated,” the letter reportedly said.