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British Paralympics Neil Fachie believes athletes are against a moral legacy of getting the vaccine for COVID-19 ahead of at-risk individuals but said he would take the picture if offer before this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Trail Cycling – 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – Men’s B&VI Sprint Medal Ceremony – Anna Meares Velodrome – Gold Coast, Australia – April 7, 2018. Neil Fachie and Scottish pilot Matt Rotherham celebrate the earning a gold medal. REUTERS / Paul Childs
REUTERS: British Paralympics Neil Fachie believes athletes are going against a moral legacy of getting the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of high-risk individuals but said he would take the a photo if it was offered before this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Olympic chief executive Dick Pound said last week that athletes should be given a prime opportunity for the Tokyo Games to get ahead as scheduled from July 23rd.
More than 15,000 athletes from almost every country are expected to travel to Tokyo for the Olympics and Paralympics thereafter.
“When that news broke, I was talking to some of my players about it and the moral legacy,” Fachie, who won a cycling gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, was quoted as saying say with the BBC.
“We’re relatively young, fit people who wouldn’t be seen as high risk for COVID. And the last thing you want to do is get vaccinated away from someone who needs it far more .
“It’s not a very good place. Should we offer the vaccine I think I would take, but there’s certainly a question mark over whether I really deserve it or not?”
Canadian Olympic defensive champion Erica Wiebe said frontline and vulnerable people should be given priority over Olympic athletes.
Her thoughts were raised by Scottish sprinter Zoey Clark, who hopes to make her Olympic debut.
“The vaccine is the ones that are most at risk of being vaccinated first,” said Clark. “
Cycling Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Emirates teams were vaccinated at a training camp in Abu Dhabi last week.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel)