WHILST THE HIERARCHY of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation is emphatic that it is not an advocate for vaccination against COVID- 19, it is willing to have the conversation open to its affiliates and stakeholders.

Making this clear was president of the SVGFF, Carl Dickson, as he spoke at a media briefing put on by the SVGFF last Tuesday at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown.

Dickson thus pointed out the role his organisation is playing in the education process about vaccination, with the setting up of a task force.

“We have engaged our Covid task force, to keep our eight national teams updated on the information that is available… They have been doing a wonderful job, going to all our national teams; keeping them informed of the vaccination,” Dickson said.

Dickson added that as a result of the work of the task force, most players on the current national Under-20 male team have taken the decision to be vaccinated.

Dickson disclosed that the process will be taken to the affiliates and other stakeholders in due course.

“It is important for us at the executive level to keep our affiliates abreast of the science; keep affiliates abreast of the impact of the science, what it is saying … The sooner we conclude our discussion and move the discussion forward in terms of how we are going to get to that particular stage, it would be the best for all our stakeholders,” the SVGFF head man related.

“We are not advocating for mandatory vaccination… We are providing the information to all our national teams and stakeholders, our affiliates and we are hoping that the science would prove itself successful in this particular drive,” Dickson reinforced.

The SVGFF president echoed his organisation’s regret that football at the local level has to be halted, but is hopeful that some level of normalcy returns so that the sport can resume its activities and competitions.

Dickson declared, “Vaccination is a front burner question across St Vincent and the Grenadines, at the administrative level we are seeing more and more the impact of the pandemic on our activities and we are not unmindful that the vaccination drive would assist us greatly in terms of continuity in what we are doing and we are also not unmindful of the fact that it is less costly to operate and administrate the sport in a vaccinated environment”.