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The British Olympic Association (BOA) announced that all athletes and support staff will be vaccinated prior to Tokyo Olympic Games.

A statement form the BOA reads, “The UK Government has confirmed that, through an agreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Pfizer BioNtech, Team GB and Paralympics GB athletes and support staff will be fully vaccinated ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, based on the unique position of having to travel to Japan to go about their work.”

With one-third of Britain already vaccinated, concerns over whether the athletes will jump the queue have been put to rest as the International Olympic Committee secured a number of vaccines for athletes and delegates.

Tokyo continues to be under a state of emergency, which was recently expanded to Sapporo some 80 kilometres north. Sapporo is the site of racewalking and marathon events.

According to www.worldometers.com, Japan, however, is listed as 35th globally in regards to the total number of cases of COVID-19 at 714,274, as of this writing. They also have one of the lowest death rates per capita at 97 per one million in population.

The UK on the other hand are listed at seventh highest total number of cases at 4,460,446 and 1,873 dead per one million.