June 21, (THEWILL)- As plans intensify for the organisers of the next World Cup, host country Qatar is determined to only allow those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend next year’s World Cup. Making this decision public, Qatar’s prime minister said the Gulf state aimed to secure one million doses to offset any lags in global immunisation efforts.
The 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men’s football championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, is scheduled to take place in the Gulf country from 21 November to 18 December 2022. It will be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world.
Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, the Qatari Prime Minister, said that while most countries were expected to have vaccinated their citizens by then, Qatar was still taking measures of its own not only to ensure a successful event, but to ensure the safety of everyone before and after.
Sheikh Khalid was cryptic about which company they were working with when he said: “We are currently negotiating with a company to provide one million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in order to immunise and vaccinate some of those coming to Qatar.”
However, organisers of the football games had earlier demonstrated their intention to host a coronavirus-free tournament and that was part of their decision to make vaccinations available to attendees who had not already been inoculated against COVID-19.
Internally, Qatar has shown a preference for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the inoculation of its citizens and residents within the country. So far, about 2.8m doses have been administered, which had gone to around 50.8 per cent of its population, according to a Reuters COVID-19 tracker monitoring global vaccination rates.
According to the Prime Minister, the 2021 Arab Cup, which Doha is hosting in December, would reflect Qatar’s preparedness to host major tournaments and be a key preparatory step ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
Qatar has already completed the construction in a large number of stadiums while work continued on three stadiums including Lusail Stadium, which will host the final match of World Cup 2022 and was now at a 90 per cent completion stage.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
