The Chinese Olympic Committee has offered Covid-19 vaccine doses for those competing at the summer Games and at the 2022 winter Games in Beijing.
The news was delivered by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Thomas Bach, who on Wednesday reiteratedthat the delayed Tokyo 2020 will start on 23 July.
“The IOC will pay for these additional doses of vaccines for the Olympic and Paralympic team,” he added. The Winter Olympics start in February 2022.
Bach added: “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.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Hirshland, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive, said Team USA athletes could be vaccinated before their respective trials because of the pace of the rollout in the country.
“The broad base of athletes may have access to the vaccine sooner than we thought initially possible,” she said.
“This is great news and we’re feeling really positive about the progress we’re seeing here in the United States, both in its advantage to US athletes as well as international athletes living and training in our country right now.”
Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto said on Thursday that no decision had been made on whether to allow foreign spectators to watch the Games in Japan.
It comes after reports this weekstating fans from overseas would not be allowed to attend due to continuing concerns about the pandemic.
Hashimoto added that a decision would be made before the start of the Olympic torch relay on 25 March.
