TOKYO, Jun 12 (NNN-NHK) – Tokyo Olympic organisers will start to vaccinate referees, media personnel and volunteers, who will have close contact with athletes during the Games, Olympic chief, Seiko Hashimoto, said here yesterday.
Hashimoto told reporters at a regular news conference that, around 18,000 people will be vaccinated from Jun 18, with the first jabs to be completed at the end of the month and the second before the start of the Games on July 23.
She added that, those who will frequently interact closely with athletes, includes Olympic village staff, employees and contractors, airport employees, doping testing officials and assistants from the national Olympic and Paralympic committees.
Hashimoto confirmed that the vaccination programme will also be expanded to “domestic media and volunteers attending to dignitaries.”
But it is still unclear whether most of the 70,000 volunteers can be vaccinated before the opening of the Games.
Olympic Minister, Tamayo Marukawa said earlier this week that, officials have already agreed to pursue the idea of vaccinating all volunteers who registered through the Tokyo Games’ organising committee, to assist at venues and the athletes’ village.
Japan still lags behind other developed countries in providing inoculations, and a large majority of people in the country have yet to be vaccinated. Only four percent of the population has had two jabs.– NNN-NHK
