Brisbane (Australia) (AFP)
Australia began vaccinating against Covid-19 on Monday its athletes called to participate in the Tokyo Olympics in two months, when the vaccination campaign is very slow in both countries.
Swimming champion Cate Campbell, who will compete in her fourth Olympics (two gold, one silver, two bronze) in Japan, was among the first to volunteer.
"We're going to find ourselves in a pretty new situation in Tokyo, so having this little bandage takes a huge burden off everyone," she told reporters after being vaccinated in Brisbane, within of the Queensland Sports Academy.
Some 2,000 athletes and accompanying people are expected to participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and authorities have predicted that the vast majority will be vaccinated.
The vaccination campaign in Australia, one of the countries in the world to have succeeded in effectively fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, is however behind schedule compared to the timetable planned by the government.
Canberra has therefore decided to speed up the vaccination procedure for athletes called to participate in the Tokyo Games, which begin on July 23, a preferential treatment that has drawn some criticism on social networks.
Japan has recorded less than 10,500 deaths from Covid-19, a figure much lower than that of many countries, but, like Australia, the vaccination campaign is also very slow.
Last week, the Japanese government extended the state of emergency in several regions including Tokyo until the end of May.
The Japanese government, the organizers of Tokyo-2020 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are working hard to ensure that the Olympics will take place "in complete safety".
© 2021 AFP