The Djokovic circus allows us to see all our Covid prejudices being played out | Emma John
Stefanos Tsitsipas learned to listen to Covid science the hard way. Not the really hard way, of course. Not the hard way that more unfortunate vaccine-resisters have experienced, after they've ingested conspiracy theories about side effects and regurgitated social media promises that there's no risk to the young and healthy. The world's No 4-ranked tennis player didn't, mercifully, find himself laid low by the virus or on a ventilator in hospital - he just found himself publicly rebuked by his own government.
While Tsitsipas's father-cum-coach, Apostolos, gave interviews claiming that athletes have a strong enough immune system to deal with any challenge", Greece's government spokesman was pointing out that a 23-year-old tennis player, however successful in his field, had neither the knowledge, nor the studies, nor the research work" to offer valid opinions on vaccination. The story had a happy ending, though: Tsitsipas did indeed stop spouting poorly informed conjecture and got himself jabbed.
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