The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Olympics chief insists athletes will not jump queue for vaccinations
The British Ol y m p i c Association has stressed there is no question of jumping the queue when it comes to sec uring vaccinations for athletes preparing for this summer’s delayed Tokyo Games.
Long-serving Canadian IOC member Dick Pound has suggested that Olympic-bound athletes might be moved up the priority list in order to guarantee their ability to compete in the Japanese capital.
However, the PA news agency understands the BOA is not currently in active conversations with the government with regard to the issue of vaccinations for athletes.
BOA chief executive Andy Anson told the PA news agency: “The priority has to be the people who need it most like frontline workers, the elderly and the vulnerable.
“There will come a time, hopefully ahead of the Olympic Games when the athletes can be considered for vaccination, but we’ ll only do that when it’s appropriate.”
Speaking earlier to Sky News, Pound had proposed that there would not necessarily be a “public outcry” if athletes were fastfor warded towards a vaccine, even if it came at the expense of some atrisk groups.
Pound said: “In Canada where we might have 300 or 400 athletes, to take 300 or 400 vaccines out of several million in order to have Canada represented at an international event of this stature, character and level, I don’t think there would be any kind of a public outcry about that. It’s a decision for each country to make.”
Neither the IOC nor Tokyo officials have indicated that a vaccination will be a mandatory requirement for those attending the Games.