(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Qatar and Rwanda have decided to join hands with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and biopharmaceutical giant Pfizer to vaccinate Tokyo Games-bound athletes, details showed yesterday.
Athletes who can’t get inoculated in their own countries ahead of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games — that were delayed from last year — will be assisted at two specially developed pre-Games centres, the IOC said in a story posted on its website.
The two hubs in Qatar and Rwanda will be giving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the story added.
On May 6, 2021, the IOC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE for free supply of vaccine doses to Olympic Games athletes heading to Tokyo next month.
H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), said in a statement on the IOC website: ''We are delighted to be a part of this excellent initiative and to contribute to safe Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. We are grateful to our colleagues in Japan and the IOC for their tremendous efforts in ensuring the Games can go ahead safely. We all have a responsibility to repay this hard work by doing everything we can to protect the health of the Japanese people and all Games participants.”
The IOC is in regular touch with NOCs whose athletes still do not have access to COVID-19 vaccine and hubs in Qatar and Rwanda will complete the process in assistance from their respective health authorities.
''Concerned NOCs can apply for travel support from Olympic Solidarity should they need it,” the IOC story revealed.
IOC NOC Relations and Olympic Solidarity Director James Macleod said: ''We cannot thank enough the two NOCs, their national governments and Pfizer for their generosity and great show of willingness and support.
The progress in preparation of work on the ground has been outstanding, and these additional vaccination opportunities are enabling the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to be safe and secure not only for the participants, but also for the Japanese people.”
The Doha vaccination hub comes in addition to QOC’s initiative to host the Refugee Olympic Team early next month in a training camp to be held in Doha prior to the team travelling to Tokyo.
Also yesterday, IOC Member in Rwanda Felicite Rwemarika said: ''We were also driven to join this initiative in solidarity with our friends at the Japan Olympic Committee, who have constantly supported our NOC by generously hosting training camps for our athletes.”
IOC claims that as many as ‘75 percent of the residents of the Olympic Village in Tokyo are already vaccinated or have secured vaccination’.
''...and there is good reason to believe that this figure will be well over 80 percent at the time of the Games,” the IOC said in its story posted on yesterday.
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