Will Vaccine Saves the Olympics

Will+Vaccine+Saves+the+Olympics

Étienne Boilard

     As you may know in 2020,  summer Olympics were supposed to take place but with the Coronavirus, they were reported. Now that a vaccine has arrived, will there be Olympics?

     The International Olympic Committee is working on how 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes and tens of thousands of others will enter the city. 

     “We created four different scenarios, one that has travel restrictions, clusters — to one where the pandemic was nearly gone,” said Lucia Montanarella, head of IOC media operations.

     “The present scenario is very much like one of those that we’d created, with the pandemic still among us, and some countries being able to contain it, some not.”

     Athletes, coaches, judges, media, broadcasters, VIPS and those travelling to Japan will be facing self-quarantine before leaving their country. Frequent tests will also be put in place. 

      Craig Spence, a spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee said, “When you see the number of tests we are going to do, that should reassure people.”

     A major unanswered question is about the vaccine, now that scientists have found a vaccine for the Coronavirus, will the Olympics take place in 2021?

     The arrival of the vaccine does not mean for sure that every athlete will be vaccinated in time but it all depends on the list of the priorities for the immunization. 

      The IOC said it would still encourage and assist individual countries to vaccinate their teams ahead of arrival.

     Japan has still over 5000 deaths so it is still unclear whether fans will be allowed to watch the Games, with confirmed Covid-19 cases still surging across the world. Athlete’s families are really impatient to know if they will be allowed to see their loved ones compete.