Athletes Call for Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
January 14, 2022
Ahead of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, set to begin on February 4 and March 4, respectively, more than 20 Olympic and Paralympic athletes have called on world leaders to ensure fair and equal access to coronavirus vaccines.
Addressing world leaders and decision-makers in a video produced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the athletes are encouraging the Olympic and Paralympic Movement to unite to help win the battle against COVID-19. Featured athletes include Olympic champions Federica Pellegrini (swimming, Italy) and Seung-min Ryu (table tennis, South Korea), three-time Olympic medallist Pau Gasol (basketball, Spain), two-time Olympic medallist Maja Martyna Wloszczowska (cycling, Poland), and Humphrey Kayange (rugby, Kenya), who are all members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, and many others.
“We have been given a way forward with a safe and effective vaccine that can help save precious lives and protect our friends… and our families. So we call on governments, foundations, philanthropists, health organizations and social businesses to join hands in giving free and equal access to the vaccine for everybody across the world to pledge our collective responsibility to protect those who are the most vulnerable because everyone on this planet has a right to live a healthy life. We are stronger together when we stand in solidarity and care for each other,” the athletes state.
During the IOC Session in Tokyo last year, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), was joined by world leaders in calling for 70% of the populations in all countries to be vaccinated by the start of July 2022, in order to end the acute phase of the pandemic. During his keynote he spoke about the challenges of distributing vaccines equally around the world.
“The Olympic Games bring nations of the world together in competition as athlete strive to fulfil the Olympic motto of ‘higher, faster, stronger – together’. The motto applies equally to our struggle against the defining challenge of our time: we must be faster in distributing vaccines all over the world... we must be stronger in removing every barrier that stands in our way to expedite production; and we must do it all together, in solidarity.”
In 2020, the IOC had supported the initiative of Noble Peace Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus to make the COVID-19 vaccines a Global Common Good. IOC President, Thomas Bach said at the time that distributing vaccines as a Global Common Good to everyone around the world will show solidarity for all humankind and demonstrate that we are always stronger together.
The IOC and the International Paralympic Committee are working alongside National Olympic Committees and National Paralympic Committees to help as many athletes and Games participants as possible get vaccinated before travelling to China. In addition, the IOC produced clips with a number of Olympians during the Games in Tokyo calling on people to get vaccinated, which rolled out on social media.