Britain yet to decide on Pfizer offer to vaccinate Olympians
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/05/2021 (1968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
LONDON (AP) — The British government is still deciding whether to accept an offer from Pfizer to fast-track Olympic and Paralympic athletes for coronavirus vaccines.
Jabs are only being given to Britons aged 38 or older — though this will be extended to those over 35 from next week — with younger people only getting inoculated if they have an underlying health condition.
“It’s sensitive because the philosophy has been based on age and that’s been proved to be the right thing,” British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said. “The biggest indicator is age is the biggest factor and of course Pfizer have offered for the Olympics and we’ve asked them about that.”
Pfizer, which developed a vaccine with BioNTech, said earlier this month that it would donate doses to inoculate athletes and officials preparing for the Tokyo games with the rescheduled Olympics due to open on July 23.
While the Olympics begin in less than 10 weeks, Britain has a policy of delaying the second dose by up to 12 weeks to free up vaccines for more people. Britain announced Sunday that more than 20 million people have now received both doses. The two shots of the Pfizer vaccines were intended to be given three to four weeks apart.
“The government’s vaccine rollout has been excellent and, coupled with the IOC’s donation of the Pfizer vaccine for athletes, means we are hopeful of getting all athletes vaccinated before they travel to Tokyo,” British Olympic Association chairman Hugh Robertson said. “It is important for this to happen soon, to assure our hosts in Tokyo that we are doing all we can to keep their population safe.”
Britain finished second in the gold-medal count at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics behind the United States, which is inoculating athletes. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are among the European nations to have already offered vaccines to athletes headed to Tokyo.
Japan has been struggling to slow infections ahead of the games and expanded a coronavirus state of emergency from six areas, including Tokyo, to nine on Friday.
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
