Kenya starts vaccinating Olympic athletes ahead of Tokyo Games

Kenya started to vaccinate Olympic athletes from the country against COVID-19 on Thursday to pave their way to Tokyo Games, according to a report by WION.

A total of 75 athletes in the Olympic team bubble were vaccinated at Nairobi's Kasarani stadium, in an exercise that will also cover rugby sevens, the Paralympic teams, and officials who would be working with Kenya Safari Rally preparations.

"It's critical that the athletes are vaccinated against Covid 19. We are now waiting for the current lockdown to end so that the athletes can race in competitive team events," Francis Mutuku, general secretary of the National Olympic Committee Kenya.

Happening now at Kasarani stadium, the Cabinet Secretary @AMB_A_Mohammed leading the Ministry of Sports in commencing vaccination of all Kenyan athletes, staff including coaches and sports personnel with priority to teams participating in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic games. pic.twitter.com/tzuavEq3oO

— National Olympic Committee of Kenya (@OlympicsKe) April 8, 2021

The country as reported hopes to continue to the rescheduled Tokyo games between July 23 and August 8 with a team of 100 athletes. The country, a world athletics superpower, ranked 15th at the 2016 Summer Olympics with 6 Gold, 6 Silver, and 1 Bronze with a total of 13 medals.

Mutuku said that all the hopeful athletes for the Olympics are expected to take part in the vaccination drive targeting a total of 3,500 coaches, athletes, handlers and officials across the country before the commencement of the Olympics and Paralympics and the Safari rally, a rally race held in the country.