There was a positive response across the island by schoolboy football players being vaccinated so they can be eligible to take part when the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) football competitions kick off this weekend.

Keith Wellington, president of ISSA, said while he had not checked with the organisation’s office he knew of just one school that had an issue getting the Pfizer vaccination yesterday.

“I have had a busy day and have not checked with the ISSA office, but as far as I know everyone should be OK,” Wellington told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“I had only heard of one school where there was a hiccup; they went to the vaccination site but the players did not have any identification cards and I am not sure how that turned out,” he said, “but generally the take-up has been good for the schools participating, as far as I know.”

As part of their proposal to the Government and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management to be able to organise the Manning and daCosta Cup competitions, ISSA had mandated that all players, coaches and staff for each team must have at least one dose of the vaccine by the start of the competition on Friday and Saturday.

Some of the players were able to get the Pfizer vaccine that is recommended for children between 12 and 18 years old, in August, before the supplies ran out.

These students would also be able to get their second dose this week.

ISSA had said earlier that all participants in all their competitions moving forward would be required to be vaccinated.

The organisers of the Jamaica Premier League reported that because they did not have a vaccine mandate and a number of players and others taking part in the league had not taken up the vaccine, they had to spend over $100 million in testing each match week.

— Paul Reid