What Athletes and Sports Physicians Should Know About COVID-19 Treatment and Anti-Doping?
Briefly about COVID-19 – (abbreviation from the COronaVIrus Disease 2019), formerly coronavirus infection 2019-nCoV is a potentially severe acute respiratory infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (2019-nCoV). It is a dangerous disease that can occur both in the form of an acute respiratory viral infection of a mild course, and in a severe form.
What Athletes and Sports Physicians Should Know About COVID-19 Treatment and Anti-Doping? The possibility of getting infected and getting sick is high for everyone, including athletes. If an athlete becomes infected with COVID-19, he will need drug and maintenance therapy during the infection, in accordance with the adopted protocols of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Generally, when athletes receive a recommendation or prescription from a physician for symptom relief, they should check the prohibited status of the product in sports.
While it is helpful for athletes to keep anti-doping rules in mind during treatment, priority should always be to ensure that athletes receive the best and most timely assistance in emergencies. Athletes should never refuse or delay treatment because of anti-doping rules; instead, they must coordinate with the anti-doping organizations of their country (in our case, this is the National Anti-Doping Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan (UzNADA) after providing emergency assistance in order to obtain permission for the therapeutic use of pharmaceuticals.
It is known that vaccinations are most effective in addressing issues of prevention and control of viral diseases.
It should be noted that one should not equally evaluate the injection of the vaccine and any other drug prescribed for the treatment of coronavirus infection, which may contain medicinal substances prohibited in sports.
On September 25, 2020, the Management of the RSPCSM held an online meeting of the medical headquarters on the topic “Preventing the spread of coronavirus infection among athletes and employees.”
Among the important issues, together with sports doctors of sports federations and specialists of the Center, a discussion was held on the need to vaccinate athletes against influenza and coronavirus.
According to the position of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Sports Medicine under the NOC of Uzbekistan, information on the appearance of vaccines that have passed the necessary tests in accordance with international safety and efficacy criteria should be kept under control. When vaccines appear that meet the declared requirements and are officially approved for use, promptly inform the management of the NOC of Uzbekistan with the subsequent purchase to fully provide athletes, employees of the NOC and the center with the necessary amount of vaccines and vaccination.