Covid -19 Vaccination Coverage and Associated Knowledge/Attitudes: A Survey Among Professional Footballers

Covid-19 vaccinations of the general population and special groups such as football players are expected to reduce the transmission of disease and achieve herd immunity.

We conducted a cross-sectional study among professional football players in Greece via an online survey prepared using Google Forms. The study was conducted during the period April-June 2022. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of professional football players inthe second division of Greece's football league, together with their vaccination coverage against Covid-19.

We found that the majority of participants were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 (72% vaccination coverage). Since the start of the pandemic, 70.4% of the football players had been diagnosed with Covid-19. A significant difference in Covid-19 vaccination was reported, with players who believed that vaccines are important for public health in comparison to counterparts that were opposed to that (p-value = 0.000005, CI = 1.422-18.34). Players with trust of health professionals also showed higher Covid-19 vaccination rates relative to players who did not against Covid-19 (p-value <0.0000001; CI = 2.906-41.64). A small proportion of medical staff of football teams recommended vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic to football players.

Targeting the holistic approach of knowledge of football players' vaccination, it may have an impact to next generation's vaccination's behavior and knowledge, that will eventually lead to the existence of future influencers for vaccination campaigns.