Tokyo does not see the Vaccine essential to celebrate the Games

The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games pointed out today that they do not see mass vaccination essential in Japan to be able to celebrate the Olympic event, as they are preparing “for all possible scenarios”.

The heads of the organizing committee reaffirmed this Thursday their determination to organize the sporting event next summer “in any situation”, which also includes the possibilities “that there are no effective vaccines “or” that a large number of people cannot be vaccinated, “Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said at a press conference.

The hosts wanted to once again clear up the doubts they have about the Games due to the pandemic situation both in Japan and in the rest of the world, in an appearance before the media held the day after the IOC Executive Commission where a similar message was launched.

“We are convinced that all these doubts will be cleared up on the opening day of the Games,” said the president of the organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, after the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach, affirmed that this body “wastes no time in conjecture” and that they are focused on the date of the opening ceremony, July 23.

The Japanese organizers stressed that they are considering a wide range of plans for different possibilities of evolution of the pandemic, which will affect the measures to prevent contagion between athletes and the presence of the public in the stands, matters that must be defined in the coming months.

One of the keys in this regard will be the inoculation of vaccines among foreign athletes, a health measure that the IOC will promote Although it is not expected to be mandatory, as well as large-scale vaccination in Japan, a process that will not begin until the end of February and will take months.

“We have to be very patient with the preparations for the vaccine,” said Muto, who noted that each country “has its own sanitary measures” and added that it is still necessary to “discuss different future scenarios before reaching conclusions.”

The organizing committee “hopes that the vaccine will be injected to as many people as possible” both in Japan and to foreign athletes and potential foreign visitors.According to Muto, who nevertheless stressed that this is not an indispensable condition for holding the Games.

Regarding the access of foreign travelers to the country for the Games and their presence in the Olympic stands, the hosts also manage “different kinds of scenarios,” including holding competitions behind closed doors, Muto noted.

But the executive director of the organizing committee stressed that the hosts “do not want to organize a Games without spectators.”