John Terry has slammed Piers Morgan for making a 'shocking' claim that footballers should be denied treatment for injuries if they refuse to be vaccinated.
The Premier League is currently going through a coronavirus crisis as outbreaks in multiple clubs have postponed six out of the league's ten matches this weekend, with only one match between Leeds and Arsenal being played on Saturday.
England's top-flight has remained silent on the number of players who are vaccinated - but the EFL announced on Thursday that four in 10 players are still not double-jabbed.
And Morgan claimed on Sunday morning that one incentive of getting footballers vaccinated is by taking away their medical treatment until they receive all their Covid jabs.
Morgan tweeted: 'Footballers who refuse to be jabbed should be refused treatment for injuries.
'After all, why should they trust doctors about treatment for broken legs & torn ligaments if they don’t trust them about a life-saving vaccine?'
However, former Chelsea and England captain Terry, who is currently without a club after leaving his assistant manager role at Aston Villa earlier this year, hit out at Morgan for the 'shocking statement'.
Premier League clubs have refused to say how many of their footballers are jabbed in order to protect their players' health records, but it is understood that Leeds, Wolves and Brentford have the best vaccination records in the top-flight.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish claimed this week that the majority of Premier League players are fully jabbed and has refused to place the blame for the postponements on those who have abstained from vaccinations.
'We would like all players to be vaccinated,' Parish told BBC Breakfast on Friday. 'I'm vaccinated, my kids are vaccinated. We obviously think it's the right thing to do for individuals and in society to get us back to normality.
'Players are no different to people in society in that age group - some people have their own views and concerns. We have a very high vaccination rate - I think - in the Premier League for the age group that players are compared to rest of society.
'But there are players who have concerns - medical issues which mean they can't get vaccinated in the same way, or just individual or family concerns. We have to work through those and do our best.
'But I don't think all of those postponements are due to unvaccinated players. While it's generally thankfully a very mild disease in players, there are still vaccinated people that can still contract it and cause a postponement.
'We would like all the players vaccinated but I don't think it's at the heart of the postponement.'