In comments critical of Jurgen Klopp and whoever the Manchester United manager is these days, who have said they would consider a player's covid "vaccination" status when signing a player, he affirmed that he would sign players regardless of their personal health choices on the matter, acknowledging that the 25% of EFL players who do not intend to get this medication have their reasons and committing to placing a player's ability first.
Admittedly things are a bit different in the PL with European matches in places like Italy where "unvaccinated" players are not allowed to play (though personally I think in such cases a team from Italy playing a team from a country with different rules should play their home game in a neutral country or forfeit the match if exemption is not granted), bit I think that Barton, regardless of what he may have done in the past, has made the right call on this one, and I would hate to see Alty missing out on a good player because of his legitimate health choices over a medication being used underr emergency authorisation.