Ireland boss Stephen Kenny would prefer to have all his players vaccinated

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Ireland’s hopes of making it to the delayed Euro 2020 were dealt a blow when strikers Aaron Connolly and Adam Idah were ruled out of their play-off semi-final in Slovakia in October last year as close contacts of another passenger on the flight to Bratislava who had tested positive, while Kenny later lost eight players from the camp in total. “In England, the AstraZeneca vaccine has quite a long period between first and second, so a couple of players have been caught with the first one, and some players have decided not to get it, so that’s where it is.” UK-based players would no longer have to isolate as close contacts of a third party who had tested positive if they had been double-jabbed, and Kenny admitted that was not lost on him and his medical staff. “In an ideal world, we would prefer to have everyone vaccinated and that wouldn’t be an issue, but you have to respect the individual wishes.” West Brom striker Callum Robinson is currently self-isolating after testing positive for the second time, while Preston midfielder Alan Browne is close to a return to action after having to do the same as a close contact, and while neither has been selected, Kenny is hoping one or both could yet join up later in the window. He’s just very unfortunate.” open image in gallery Burnley’s Nathan Collins has received a first senior Republic of Ireland call-up Kenny’s comments came after Premier League and EFL clubs announced their decision not to allow players to travel to countries on the UK Government’s red list during the forthcoming international break, prompting FIFA president Gianni Infantino to write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask for exemptions.