Canada Olympic team won’t jump vaccine queue
Athletes say shots should go to most at-risk
For some canadian athletes heading to the Tokyo Olympics this summer, the thought of receiving a vaccine against COVID-19 before a fellow citizen in greater need would undermine the meaning of being an Olympian.
Vaccines against COVID-19 won’t be mandatory for athletes and team staff at the Games, but dick Pound, a canadian and the longest-serving member of the International Olympic committee (IOC), has said athletes should be given priority for the Olympics to take place as planned.
The IOC has said it’s against athletes skipping lines in their countries, while the canadian Olympic committee has said it was preparing for the Tokyo Games under the assumption vaccines might not be widely available to its athletes before they open on July 23.
“We really need the vaccine to get into the arms of the people who are most at risk, those in long-term care homes, those in the front lines,” canadian wrestler erica Wiebe, the reigning Olympic champion in the 75-kg class, told reuters.
Wiebe, who travelled to Serbia last month for the Individual World cup after the longest competition hiatus of her career, said her participation in the Tokyo Games didn’t depend on being vaccinated, even though her sport requires close contact with other competitors.
Some countries have already begun vaccinating athletes or plan to inoculate their Olympic delegations before the Games. Israel’s Olympic committee said Wednesday it had already inoculated half its Olympic delegation and would complete the process by the end of May.
In canada, race walker evan dunfee worries that if athletes were to be given priority, it “would sour public opinion and just turn the community against us.”
“We’d come home from those Games and really be limited in our ability to use the power of sport to lift people up, to inspire and to be role models,” said dunfee, who finished fourth in the 50km at the 2016 rio Games.
dunfee doesn’t expect his turn to be vaccinated to come before June or July, a time when he would normally be training at altitude in Switzerland in the immediate runup to the Games.
he said that if his training went according to plan, there was a good chance he would not be vaccinated before the Olympics.
“Our value as athletes is only as strong as our community,” he said. “We’re nothing without our communities.”
hungary and Serbia began inoculating their Olympic athletes against COVID-19 on Friday ahead of the Tokyo Summer Games, officials said on Friday, ignoring the International Olympic committee’s disapproval.
The move comes as europe faces delays in vaccine supplies. The eu warned drug companies on Thursday that it would use all legal means or even block exports unless they agree to deliver shots as promised.
IOC president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday the organization wasn’t in favour of athletes “jumping the queue” for vaccines.
The hungarian Olympic committee said 868 athletes were selected for the inoculation drive.
hungary has just completed the vaccinations of medical professionals and begun inoculating the elderly. The general population will begin getting shots next month, premier Viktor Orban said. The athletes will get shots of the Moderna vaccine, the hoc said.
Serbia, where inoculations have progressed steadily with early shipments of chinese and russian vaccines, also began giving shots on Friday, the Serbian Olympic committee and the Sports Ministry said in a statement.
Israel’s Olympic committee said it had already vaccinated half its Olympic delegation and would complete the process by the end of May.
South Korean Prime Minister chung Sye-kyun said Korean athletes should “of course” be given the vaccine.
Prime Minister yoshihide Suga said on Friday that Japan remained determined that the Olympics would go ahead in Tokyo this summer.
Suga told a virtual meeting of the World economic Forum that Japan was “determined to deliver hope and courage to the world” through the Games.
Japan has been hit by a third COVID wave that has triggered states of emergency in some areas. The government isn’t planning to start its vaccine program until late February, casting doubt over whether a significant proportion of the population will have been inoculated in time for the Games.