Australia’s cricket board said on Wednesday it had asked authorities about the timeline for Covid-19 vaccinations as part of its planning for the South Africa tour, amid debate over whether athletes should be given priority access in the rollout.
On Wednesday, Australia named a squad for the three-test tour which is expected to kick off later next month, though dates and venues are yet to be confirmed.
South Africa has recorded more than 1.4 million Covid-19 cases and 41,000 deaths, out of over 3.4 million cases and 86,000 deaths in Africa.
Australia approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use on Monday and starts its vaccine rollout in February.
“We obviously sought some clarification on the vaccine timeline here in Australia, just to understand how that would overlay with our tours,” Cricket Australia executive Ben Oliver said.
“To clarify that … the priority is making sure our group can go on tour and return back to Australia safely, and we’re doing everything we can around that.”
The chairman of the Australian cricketers’ union said this week that it would not be “morally defensible” for the players to “jump the queue” for the vaccine ahead of higher risk groups.
England’s one-day international series in South Africa was postponed in December after an unnamed South Africa player and two hotel staff members contracted Covid-19 inside the teams’ biosecure hub.
