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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Thursday that it would pay for additional vaccinations against COVID-19 that the Chinese Olympic Committee has offered to athletes competing in Tokyo 2020 and the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
Thomas Bach, president of the Committee, said that for each of these additional doses for an Olympic and a Paralympic team, the IOC would pay for two additional doses that can be made available to the population of the respective country, according to their needs.
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The German official the announcement to the 137th IOC session, which met virtually.
"I can report that a significant number of Olympic teams have already been vaccinated, in accordance with their national vaccination guidelines. Another significant number have already received commitments from their governments in this regard," Bach said.
The International Olympic Committee will buy vaccines from China for athletes who need them before this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and next year’s Beijing Winter Games.
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 11, 2021
The deal comes as some in Japan fear the games may become a super-spreader event.https://t.co/ElvcLjQdaA
The IOC President commented that the Chinese Olympic Committee's offer "is in the true Olympic spirit of solidarity."
Earlier this week, the Japanese government announced that there would not be any foreign spectators at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games to be held this summer due to the risk of introducing diverse foreign strains of the COVID-19 virus into the country.
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