Munich (AP) – national soccer player Joshua Kimmich wants to get vaccinated after emotional debates and a corona infection. The 26-year-old now regrets not having decided on the spades earlier.
“In general, it was difficult for me to deal with my fears and concerns, which is why I was undecided for so long,” said the FC midfielder Bavaria in a ZDF interview published on Sunday. A “yes” from Kimmich and his vaccination turnaround could also have a public signal effect on the vaccination issue. Around 70 percent of the population in Germany are fully vaccinated.
Kimmich’s vaccination had caused a lot of criticism for the national player, who had been thwarted for over a month, and kept the family man very busy. “It doesn’t leave anyone behind without a trace,” said coach Julian Nagelsmann and assured him. “He’s coming back strong.” But that will take a few more weeks because Kimmich still has problems with his lungs, despite the slight progress.
After the recently vaccinated national team colleague Jamal Musiala, the match winner in the 2-1 win against FSV Mainz, gave coach Nagelsmann the 100th victory in the Bundesliga, Kimmich’s announcement further increased Munich’s hope for less corona turbulence in the coming year. FC Bayern, which is practically the autumn champion, has been repeatedly affected by failures of unvaccinated Corona contact persons in the past few weeks. In addition, professionals got infected. Most recently, it hit Kimmich, who had to be quarantined twice as a contact person before he was infected.
Team doctor Roland Schmidt also confirmed the return plan. According to the current status, Kimmich will be fully resilient again, the doctor told the “kicker”. With “the beginning of the second half of the season”, which FC Bayern starts on January 7th against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Kimmich can get back into team training.
Also vaccinated Musiala
Before the Kimmich advance, Nagelsmann announced that the 18-year-old Musiala had also followed the recommendations of the doctors in the fight against the pandemic. “I’m happy that he’s now vaccinated and that hopefully we won’t have any problems in the second half of the season,” said Nagelsmann. The Bayern coach recently received news of a vaccination from Serge Gnabry, but this has not yet been confirmed. “If it is the case, then I am happy about it, then it is a first step,” said Nagelsmann.
Like Kimmich, Gnabry also has a corona infection behind him. The Standing Vaccination Commission recommends that people with healthy immunity who have been infected be given a dose of vaccine first. As a rule, the vaccination should take place six months after the illness, but no earlier than four weeks after the Covid 19 symptoms have ceased. A booster vaccination should then take place later. Gnabry’s infection was more than six months ago.
Slight infiltrations in the lungs
National coach Hansi Flick will be happy about the vaccination news from his DFB trio a few weeks before the start of the World Cup year. The national coach had already indicated that Kimmich’s “tendency” was for a vaccination against the coronavirus. His own illness may have influenced Kimmich’s calculations further. Due to slight infiltration in the lungs, the key player cannot yet fully train for the DFB and Bayern team. This also applies to the Munich colleague Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, who, like Kimmich, was infected with the virus.
Kimmich, who founded the “We Kick Corona” aid initiative together with Leon Goretzka, had declared his vaccination fence with “a few concerns, especially about the lack of long-term studies”. According to many experts, such long-term after-effects are excluded from vaccinations against Covid-19. In addition to Kimmich, four other Bayern professionals were unvaccinated until a few weeks ago.
Well over 90 percent of the players vaccinated
Kimmich’s rethinking was welcomed on a political level. “It’s a good decision,” wrote the new Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) on Twitter. “As a professional soccer player and national player, he is a role model for many people. More vaccinations are the way out of the pandemic,” added Stark-Watzinger.
Overall, according to the Germans, in the two professional football leagues Soccer Liga have significantly more than 90 percent of the players vaccinated. “In football we are on an excellent path in terms of vaccination rates,” said Nagelsmann after the success against Mainz with goals from Kingsley Coman and Musiala.
Kimmich made his last appearance so far in a 2-1 win against SC Freiburg on November 6th. “From the couch”, Kimmich wanted to keep his fingers crossed for his colleagues for the last three games of the year against Mainz, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg. “From January we will attack together again,” he announced via Instagram.
Nagelsmann has no concerns about Kimmich’s performance. “I’m not worried at all because the infiltration is not that dramatic,” said the coach on Friday. “It’s not so dramatic that you can expect any consequential damage.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211212-99-352902 / 6
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