Germans Players Will Have to Get Their Antibodies Checked Before Euros

Apparently it’s not enough to be among the best players in Germany. If the German boys want to play in Euros, they’re going to have to get their antibodies checked.

As Daryl reported here earlier, Swiss and Austrian health officials fear that a measles epidemic could happen at Euro 2008 if somebody with the virus were to show up at one of the games.

If this were to happen? Disaster. And not only from a health standpoint. If the virus were to start spreading, it could reach the players, and the tournament itself would go out the window.

Germany has decided to get proactive on this issue. Team decision-makers are going for a competitive advantage by making sure that none of their players come down with measles.

The German national soccer team is worried about their chances at the upcoming soccer tournament Euro 2008 if they fall ill with measles during the competition.

The fears are due to an ongoing measles epidemic in Switzerland and Austria, who are co-hosting the June 7-29 tournament. Now SPIEGEL has learned that all the players on the national side, plus the team’s training and support staff, will have their vaccination certificates inspected and their blood checked for anti-bodies ahead of the championship, to make sure they are not at risk of catching measles.

“Anyone who doesn’t already have immunity will immediately be vaccinated,” team doctor Tim Meyer told SPIEGEL. It only requires one player to fall ill, Meyer explained — then not only would the championship be over for him, “but probably for the whole team too.”

No word yet on whether other teams will follow suit.

Both Switzerland and Austria have been struggling to get a measles epidemic under control for more than a year, and low vaccination rates in Europe aren’t helping. Authorities estimate that a quarter of young people in Germany aren’t up to date on their shots. If you were to throw a few sick people into a stadium with tens of thousands of football fans, you’d have a recipe for disaster. So much so that German authorities are even recommending the possibility of mobile vaccination sites at the games.

But some people don’t think this is a good idea.

Not everyone is in favor of mobile vaccination stations, however. A spokesperson for Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health told SPIEGEL that such stations would be bad for the image of the football tournament. “The sight would just scare people off,” he said.

Because…yeah. The PR you get from an epidemic is SO much better.

Bottom line? If you’re going to SwissAustria, join the German team and get your antibodies checked first.