Australia will accelerate vaccinations for athletes and support workers participating in the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the government said on Tuesday.
The contingent of around 2,000 people can be vaccinated in the second highest priority group in the country, at the same time as people aged 70 and over, rescue workers and people with existing diseases and disabilities.
Amid the sluggish introduction of the vaccine in the country, the announcement sparked some backlash. Critics have had problems with athletes receiving preferential treatment as some senior workers and other vulnerable individuals are still awaiting vaccines.
To date, Australia has only vaccinated about 7 percent of its population, largely due to supply issues and poor coordination between state and federal governments and clinics. Earlier this month, the rollout was further hampered when the government stopped recommending the AstraZeneca vaccine, the only vaccine the country makes domestically for people under 50. Two weeks ago, the government abandoned its original goal of vaccinating the entire population through the US at the end of the year.
Australian Sports Minister Richard Colbeck said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon: “Our athletes deserve the opportunity to compete.” He added that vulnerable Australians remain an “absolute priority” for the vaccine to be rolled out.
Australian Olympic Committee executive director Matt Carroll responded in a statement. “There will be hundreds of very grateful athletes, coaches and their families who will be relieved to know that their hard work over five years has paid off,” he said. “That extra layer of security is what they were looking for.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Carroll told reporters that the committee had hired a private contractor to carry out the vaccinations, which means “there is no burden on the public system at all”.
The rollout for the athletes and support staff is slated to begin next week, he added, noting that they would receive either the Pfizer vaccine for athletes under 50 or the AstraZeneca vaccine.
In other updates from around the world:
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In the coming weeks, officials will be in Great Britain will announce a plan that will allow people to travel to selected countries without quarantining themselves upon return. The plan includes using a National Health Service app to check if travelers are getting a Covid-19 vaccination or have recently tested negative, Grant Shapps, the country’s transportation secretary, told Sky News. Civil society groups have raised concerns about vaccination records, saying that they could invade privacy or put certain marginalized communities at a disadvantage.
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Andalusia, a region in the south Spain, said it would reopen travel across its eight provinces from midnight on Wednesday, part of a national plan to ease restrictions. The introduction of vaccines in Spain has accelerated in recent weeks. 23 percent of the population had at least one shot. Medical authorities in Seville, the capital of Andalusia, began offering the one-off Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Wednesday.
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An aunt of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India died after contracting the coronavirus in the west Indian state of Gujarat. Narmadaben Modi, 80, was hospitalized after her condition worsened 10 days ago and she was hospitalized, Prahlad Modi, Mr. Modi’s younger brother, told reporters. Gujarat is one of the Indian states where crematoriums run overnight to cope with the volume of corpses. It is widely believed that officials there underestimate the real number of deaths.
