The International Olympic Committee and China have teamed up to offer vaccines to athletes and teams preparing for the upcoming games in both Tokyo and Beijing, the IOC said on Thursday.
The Tokyo Olympics, postponed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, were the first Games outside wartime to be canceled but have been rescheduled for July 23 to August 8.
Due to the delay the Beijing Games will now start just over six months after Tokyo.
“The IOC has received a kind offer from the Chinese Olympic Committee, hosts of the 2022 Beijing winter Olympics, to make additional vaccine doses available to participants in both editions of the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022,” IOC President Thomas Bach told the Olympic body’s virtual session.
He did not provide any details on the number of doses. The Olympics involve more than 10,000 athletes while usually tens of thousands more people are involved in the Games as coaching staff, media, volunteers and officials.
Bach was addressing an on-line presentation by new Tokyo Olympics chief Seiko Hashimoto, her first presentation to the IOC since taking over three weeks ago.
The Tokyo Games will be held amid tight health measures and the likely absence of international visitors while the IOC has urged national Olympic committees to vaccinate athletes.
“The IOC will pay for the additional doses of vaccines not only for Olympic but also Paralympic teams,” Bach said.
“For each of these doses the IOC will pay for two doses more which can be made available to the population in the respective countries.”
Most Japanese people do not want international visitors to attend the Tokyo Games amid fears that a large influx could spark a resurgence of coronavirus infections, a newspaper poll showed recently. Bach tried to ease fears, saying hundreds of major international sports events had taken place since September 2020 with strict health measures.
