Lausanne, Switzerland, March 11, 2021: The International Olympic Committee has further outlined its plans to work with the National Olympic Committees to enhance athletes’ safety as they train and compete over the coming months.
Addressing the 137th IOC Session on Thursday, March 11, IOC President Thomas Bach said that a significant number of Olympic teams had already been vaccinated and others had received commitments from their governments, in line with their respective national vaccination delivery strategies.
In full respect of the established national vaccination priorities and guidelines, he also confirmed that the IOC was continuing to work with international partners to create additional opportunities for the vaccination of athletes.
Additionally, the IOC has received an offer from the Chinese Olympic Committee, the host of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, to assist in making vaccines available. President Bach noted that the plan was to make vaccine doses available to NOCs in whose territories the Chinese vaccine had been approved by the relevant national health authority.
Although the details are still being worked out, President Bach confirmed that the IOC is ready to pay for these additional doses of vaccines for not only the Olympic but also the Paralympic teams, as well as for two further doses, which can be made available to the population in the respective countries according to their needs.
From the outset, the IOC has made it clear that, while it supports the vaccination of athletes and NOCs, it will not be mandatory for them be vaccinated in order to participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The IOC has also underlined that any vaccination programme must be conducted in full respect of national vaccination priorities.
Source: www.olympic.org