Fast-track vaccines for Olympians

THE British Olympic Association are in talks with the Government about getting athletes vaccinated before the Tokyo Games in July. International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said yesterday that athletes should be given priority access to Covid-19 vaccines in order for the rescheduled event to go ahead as planned. And BOA chief executive Andy Anson also wants the vaccine to be rolled out to Team GB’s 380-strong squad as soon as possible — but only after the country’s most vulnerable people have had the jab. ‘They won’t get priority access now because I think everyone — athletes included — would agree that the priority is the people who need it most,’ said Anson. ‘There will come a time, hopefully in late spring or summer, when the athletes can be vaccinated. ‘We’ll do that when the Government feels it’s appropriate.’ Games organisers have previously said they will not make the vaccine mandatory for athletes, but Pound, the longest-serving member of the IOC, thinks it will be essential. The Canadian (above) told Sky News: ‘To take 300 or 400 vaccines (for athletes) out of several million in order to have Canada represented at an international event of this stature, I don’t think there would be any kind of a public outcry about that. ‘It’s a decision for each country to make and there will be people saying they are jumping the queue — but I think that is the most realistic way of it going ahead.’ Japan’s prime minister Yoshihide Suga and IOC president Thomas Bach insisted last week that the Olympics would definitely take place this summer, despite a spike in coronavirus cases in Tokyo that has put the city on the brink of going into a state of emergency.