[ad_1]
Sport
Japanese athletes at the Summer Olympics will not be eligible for coronavirus vaccines offered by China as Japan has not approved the vaccines, Olympic Games Minister Tamayo Marukawa said on Friday, according to public broadcaster NHK. .
FILE PHOTO: Japan’s Minister of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tamayo Marukawa attends a press conference amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan, on February 18, 2021. REUTERS / Issei Kato
TOKYO: Japanese athletes at the Summer Olympics will not be eligible for coronavirus vaccines offered by China as Japan has not approved the vaccines, Olympic Games Minister Tamayo Marukawa said on Friday, according to the broadcaster. NHK public.
The Chinese Olympic Committee has offered doses of vaccines for participants in this year’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday.
IOC President Thomas Bach’s announcement during an online session caught Tokyo Games organizers such as Chief Executive Toshiro Muto by surprise. Muto declined to comment on the offer at a briefing on Thursday after the session.
On Friday, Marukawa said there were no changes to the Tokyo organizers’ plans for a safe Games, regardless of whether the participants had been vaccinated.
“I think it will be a decision for the countries where Chinese vaccines have been approved,” NHK said, quoting Marukawa at a regular press conference, speaking on the question of whether athletes would receive the vaccines that China offers.
“I am not aware of any Chinese company that has applied for approval in Japan,” he added, saying that Japanese athletes would not be eligible.
“We are taking comprehensive anti-infective measures so that people can feel safe participating in the Tokyo Games, even without a vaccine,” she added.
“There is no change where we are proceeding with the assumption that people do not get vaccinated.”
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, after being postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
