Fearing further backlash, Japan begins vaccination of athletes ahead of Tokyo Olympics

Japan has started administering COVID-19 vaccines to its Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes, confirmed the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) on Tuesday. Nearly 200 athletes received their first dose of the vaccine at a training center on the opening day of the vaccination drive.

Thousands across Japan are outraged at the slow pace of the government's inoculation campaign. With a just a little more than a month left for the Tokyo Olympics, only a mere 2.7% of the total population has been fully vaccinated. Less than 8% have received at least the first dose.

Fear of a public backlash held back the JOC from allowing media coverage of the current vaccination programme for athletes. No Japanese athlete was named by the officials.

Japanese govt. to vaccinate citizens of 65 yrs & above before Tokyo Olympics

Addressing the general public, the Japanese Olympic Committee official Mitsugi Ogata said the vaccination of the Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes would not affect the distribution of the vaccine among the general population.

“Vaccination operations for athletes are conducted in a different organization from those for the nation," Ogata was quoted as saying.

As the epidemic situation in and around Tokyo continues to worsen, Japan has stepped up its inoculation process by launching its vaccination drives in Tokyo as well as Osaka. As per media reports, the government is planning to fully vaccinate all citizens of 65 years and above by the end of July.

According to experts, the movement of participants within Japan would intensify the spread of COVID-19 from one country to another if the Tokyo Olympics go ahead as planned. Calls keep on mounting for a cancelation of the Tokyo Olympics with questions remaining as to how a global event of this magnitude can be held in the middle of a pandemic.

Meanwhile, fears over a new strain of the COVID-19 virus spreading in Japan due to global participants at the Tokyo Olympics are casting fresh doubts in the minds of the citizens.

"All of the different mutant strains of the virus which exist in different places will be concentrated and gathering here in Tokyo. We cannot deny the possibility of even a new strain of the virus potentially emerging after the Olympics," Naoto Ueyama, head of the Japan Doctors Union, said last week.