Telegraph Sport
Olympic chiefs are working with the World Health Organisation to get all athletes vaccinated in an attempt to save the Tokyo Games, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
Accelerating Covid-19 jabs for competitors where national programmes are yet to begin is a priority in the International Olympic Committee’s plan.
High-level meetings are advancing with the WHO’s Covax project, a sub-group of vaccine experts accelerating distribution to developing nations.
Sources close to the discussions say there is no suggestion of athletes getting priority access over vulnerable groups. However, the arrangement could prompt an ethical debate, with other sporting bodies such as the Premier League ruling out buying stock for footballers.
The chaotic scenes which forced 72 tennis players to isolate ahead of the Australian Open this week has added to pressure on organisers to reassure athletes and the Japanese community that the Games are safe.
The roll-out of the Covax scheme, led by the WHO and GAVI vaccine alliance, is due to start next month, with 1.8 billion doses distributed to poorer countries this year.
Talks between Covax officials and the IOC have been stepped up since Tokyo organisers said at the end of November that athletes and spectators will be strongly urged to receive the vaccine.
Andy Anson, the chief executive at the British Olympic Association, has always stated he would not ask for British athletes to jump the queue. And while he made no suggestion that any athlete should be fast-tracked over any other groups, he explained that a new plan to help vaccinate smaller countries was a “big issue” for the IOC.
The governing body, he confirmed, was working “very closely” with Covax. “I think they’re going to keep working on that so that they can make the vaccine as widely available as possible to people coming to Japan,” he explained. “For us that’s important.”
Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, suggested last November that the body would cover at least some of the costs of a huge vaccination effort. Plans are now “evolving”, Anson said, to help all 206 members to get access.
Despite rising Covid-19 rates in Japan and beyond, governing bodies and Japanese ministers yesterday dismissed suggestions the Games are set to be cancelled.