The Austrian Minister of Health called on Dominic Thiem, world No 9 and winner of the US Open 2020, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 on Wednesday, as the issue of vaccination occupies world tennis.
In early October, the 28-year-old player, removed from the circuit by an injury to the right wrist since mid-August, explained that he was waiting for the product from the American pharmaceutical company Novavax, which uses a technology different from those used in current vaccines. He had however specified that he would opt for one of the vaccines already approved if he had no other choice.
Conventional, so-called “inactivated” vaccines may not be available until 2022, “and there is no indication that they have any advantages over current vaccines,” commented Minister Wolfgang Mückstein, a medical practitioner, in an Austrian media.
He warned of the risk of “long COVID”, including for young people and athletes, with symptoms of fatigue, decreased concentration, body pain and respiratory problems. “We also have patients barely 30 years old in intensive care,” he insisted, while Austria is facing a sharp rise in contamination.
The politician also wrote to Thiem on Thursday to offer him a meeting “in order to remove his uncertainties”.
The issue of vaccination is at the heart of discussions in world tennis in the perspective of the next Australian Open, in three months in Melbourne (January 17-30). The Australian authorities repeated Wednesday to close the door to possible exemptions that would allow unvaccinated players to participate in the first Grand Slam of the season.
Bayern Munich’s German international Joshua Kimmich has also recently triggered strong reactions in the football world, but also in politics in Germany, announcing his choice not to be vaccinated.
With only 63.8% of its population fully vaccinated, Austria, one of the richest countries in the world, is struggling to convince the refractory.
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