The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that it has received an offer from China to make vaccines for athletes participating at the Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
IOC President Thomas Bach said that the IOC will pay for the additional batch of vaccines that China will produce for the Games.
“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. (Bach) noted that the plan was to make vaccine doses available to NOCs in whose territories the Chinese vaccine has been approved by the relevant national health authority,” said the IOC in its statement from the 137th IOC Session on Thursday.
“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,” it added.
Significantly, the Tokyo Olympics, which was originally slated to be held in July 2020, will now be held between July 23 to August 8 this year.
It was postponed last year due to Covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the 2022 Winter Olympics is scheduled to be held from February 4 in Beijing.