THE UAAP board urged student-athletes to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus in preparation for the possible resumption of face-to-face tournaments in the upcoming Season 84.
“We feel the vaccines will probably be one of the things that will help us make sure that tournaments will run in Season 84,” UAAP President Emmanuel Calanog said in a UAAP Talk episode aired online.
Calanog said the UAAP had been holding webinars to educate athletes about the COVID-19 vaccines.
“One of the webinars that we had for our athletes was really for them to be able to ask questions to medical professionals regarding the science of vaccines so we could encourage them to be vaccinated once it’s available,” he said.
UAAP announced that Season 84 is set to open in February 2022 if the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) approves, according to a report by Business Mirror.
The guidelines on the resumption of student-athletes’ training given by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in February played a big role in paving the way for a proposal to kick-start the upcoming season, Executive Director Rebo Saguisag said in the same interview.
“I guess with the rollout of the vaccines it’s safe to say na dadali. Tini-tingnan natin ngayon with the vaccines, bukod sa training, but also proposal na we can really concretely discuss return to competition,” Saguisag said.
The board has yet to discuss eligibility guidelines for seniors and adjustments for events that were cut during season 82.
Season 82 prematurely ended on April 7, 2020 while season 83 was officially cancelled on December 7 last year. Rommel Bong R. Fuertes Jr.
