Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, speaking at a seminar on Asian democracy in Tokyo on March 21, said of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, which have been postponed until next summer, that he is determined to hold them in Tokyo as evidence of mankind’s victory over the new coronavirus, and to prepare for a safe and secure congress.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and The Japanese government reached a quadripartite consensus on March 30 on the schedule for the Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed due to the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak, and decided to open on July 23 and close on August 8 next year. The Paralympic Games open on Aug. 24, 2021, and close on Sept. 5, a decision that was adopted at the March 30 meeting of the IOC’s Provisional Executive Board.
IOC President Bach, who is visiting Japan, held a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Nov. 16 and said he “hopes to make this event a symbol of human cooperation and solidarity in the post-New Guinea epidemic world.
But can the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics really be held on schedule as described above? It is a difficult task from the current point of view. Worldwide, the epidemic has been worsening since winter, with at least 1,675,362 deaths from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and at least 75,611,670 confirmed cases as of Dec. 19.
The epidemic has been on the rise since the beginning of winter in Japan. In June, after the implementation of the emergency situation, the epidemic was well controlled, and on June 19, the number of infected people and new coronavirus patients under treatment and recuperation nationwide dropped to 750, with only 75 new infected people.
On December 15, NHK released the results of a nationwide telephone poll (1,249 respondents) of adults over 18 years of age conducted from 11 to 13, which showed that 32% of respondents said the Tokyo Olympics should be stopped next year, while 31% said it should be postponed again. 63% of all respondents had a negative view of holding the Olympics and Paralympics next year, and only 27% said it should be held.
According to a public opinion poll conducted by NHK in October, 23% said the Games should be suspended, while 25% said they should be postponed again. Forty-eight percent said no to holding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics next year, and two months later, the trend has risen sharply.
The Kan regime is currently at a loss as to how to control the spread of Japan’s new crown.
Japan’s hopes for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics next year had been placed on a vaccine for Neoplasia, but now it seems that a worldwide spread of the vaccine is not in sight.
According to UN News, World health Organization Director-General Tan Desai said on December 18 that the global vaccine partnership, the New Crown Vaccine Access Mechanism (COVAX), has secured nearly 2 billion doses of existing and candidate vaccines for global use, which he welcomed, noting that while the New Crown pandemic is expected to end, we must not let our guard down.
UN News also said Dec. 18: By the middle of next year, the New Crown Vaccine Access Facility will provide enough vaccine for health and social care workers in all participating countries that request it. By the end of 2021, all other participating countries will have access to enough vaccine to cover 20 percent of their population, with further increases in supply in 2022.
If it appears that universal access to vaccine for 20% of the population will not be achieved until the end of 2021, and that the new crown is continuing to expand and spread, it will simply not be possible to achieve control of the new crown by the end of 2021 on the basis of vaccines.
And given that the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer submitted an application for approval of the New Crown vaccine, Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Kenjiu Tamura told the media on the 18th that “instructions have been given to the relevant departments to implement the review quickly and with the highest priority.” Government sources revealed that a conclusion on whether to approve it will be reached in February next year at the earliest. However, Pfizer’s domestic clinical trials in Japan have not yet been completed, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced guidelines that when importing overseas vaccines, clinical trials need to be conducted in Japan as well, in principle, in order to confirm whether they are also safe for use on Japanese people. Since the clinical trials on Japanese people started late, the review is expected to be late.
Japan’s schedule is roughly as follows: if approved, vaccination of medical personnel may be initiated afterwards, and in parallel, distribution of vaccination vouchers to elderly people who will be priority targets will begin in March by municipalities, and for other people, vouchers will be distributed from the second half of April, with the government aiming to secure a quantity that can be provided to all citizens by the first half of 2021.
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