US drugs giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Thursday announced a deal with the International Olympic Committee to provide vaccines to competitors and staff at the Tokyo Games.
In a statement, the firms said they would coordinate with national sporting bodies to make sure that coronavirus vaccines are available to anyone who needs one before travelling to Japan.
-Delivery of initial doses to participating delegations is expected to begin at the end of May where possible with the aim to ensure participating delegations receive second doses ahead of arrivals in Tokyo- they said.
The agreement was welcomed by IOC president Thomas Bach, who has already seen the Tokyo Games postponed from last year because of the pandemic.
-We are inviting the athletes and participating delegations of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games to lead by example and accept the vaccine where and when possible- Bach said.
There are expected to be more than 11,000 athletes at the games, which will run from July 23 to August 8, but many have already secured vaccines in their home countries.
The IOC has been promising for months that the Olympics would be safe even without widespread vaccination, thanks to a battery of health precautions.
The IOC has already said it will offer national delegations Covid-19 vaccines bought from China.
But the agreement with Pfizer is seen as important as Tokyo and several Japanese regions are once again under a state of alert due to the increase in cases of Covid-19, amid lingering doubts about the wisdom of holding the games.