Postponed Olympics Still Facing Political Roadblocks

Japan still faces significant challenges in the conduct of the once-postponed Summer Olympics set to take place in Tokyo starting this June. Source: Rueters.

While sports have persisted in America despite the raging pandemic, elsewhere in the world organized sports have ground to a halt or have at least required lower case numbers to proceed. With 5 months to go until the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, all eyes are on Japan and its vaccination speed to see if the games will go on as planned. 

Health officials point to vaccination as the single biggest requirement for a successful games. However, Japan approved its first vaccine just last week, citing concerns that Pzifer’s trial did not include enough Asian, and specifically Japanese, participants. This delay put the country two months behind the United Kingdom and America - which worries some experts given the time crunch. 

While Japan’s policies have kept cases of COVID down to 400,000 and 7,000 deaths, studies have shown that Japan ranks extremely low for vaccine confidence with only 50% of the population wanting to receive a vaccine. Beyond that, Japan is facing the same hurdles many other countries face. Securing enough doses of the vaccine, purchasing specialty equipment for administering the shot, and ensuring that the most vulnerable populations receive access have been troubling. Currently, Japan projects to have enough doses for the entire population by June, with a proposed Olympic start date of July which leaves little room for error if the vaccination schedule gets delayed. 

Beyond the host country, however, more problems arise. Currently, the International Olympic Committee will not be requiring athletes to get vaccinated as it is available in so few countries and in many cases not available for the primary demographic of athletes as they are predominantly young, low-risk, and healthy. This is worrisome to experts as the Olympics and Paralympics draw in more than 15,000 athletes from 200 countries, a figure that doesn’t include coaches, support staff, media, and other officials. Georgetown virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen believes that the best option the IOC has is to require athletes to be vaccinated. She explained,  "Letting in a huge influx of people, many from countries with out-of-control coronavirus transmission, is in fact a threat to the public health of the Japanese people," she said. "I don't think it would be ethically problematic to require everyone to be vaccinated, it's a public health issue and it is a private event. It might be challenging, as the access and availability varies from country to country, and it would have to be done with enough time for athletes to potentially receive both doses, but that might be the safest option for Japan."

Despite Japanese Prime Minister Suga receiving unanimous support from the other G7 countries, in two surveys more than 80% of surveyed Japanese citizens think that the games either won’t go on or shouldn’t. Despite the uncertainty from his own constituents, Suga explained his desire to go forward with the games to reporters as "I want to realize a safe and secure Olympics as testimony that human beings will have won the battle with the coronavirus.”