The resignation of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has come as a big shock for the covid-deferred Tokyo Olympics. Abe who suffered from ulcerative colitis is to receive new and more prolonged treatment stepped down from the office citing health reason. He has been the biggest supporter of the Olympic Games in 2020 and his stepping down puts a lot of questions on the future of the summer games.
The Japanese capital was awarded hosting rights at the 125th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in 2013 – an event Abe spoke at. Abe dressed as the popular Nintendo character Mario at the Rio 2016 closing ceremony which was one of the historic moments in Olympic history.
With him gone, it appears that the next-year bound games will be held under a new Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Japan is making an aggressive move to grab enough coronavirus vaccine to inoculate its population four times over, a push the government hopes will instil confidence that it can host a delayed summer Olympics next year.
Like other rich countries, Japan is signing multiple deals because some of the vaccines could fail in clinical trials or require more than one dose, an approach some experts consider prudent.
But Japan has something else riding on a successful mass rollout of a vaccine: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s enduring aim to bring thousands of athletes and fans to Tokyo for the Games in 2021, after the event fell through this year due to the pandemic.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the top government spokesman, said Japan was working with Olympic organisers on how to go ahead with the Games, tying the effort to the need to secure a vaccine.
The various companies “will probably be able to produce a vaccine between the end of this year and next March,” Suga told Reuters in an interview this week. “There are a lot of considerations, but we want to hold the Olympics at all costs.”
Japan is on track to have 521 million doses of five different vaccines in 2021, compared with a population of 126 million. Recent deals include global arrangements with such drugmakers as Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca PLC, as well as local deals with the likes of Shionogi & Co. “You have to bet evenly to avoid getting nothing,” said Tomoya Saito, director at Japan’s National Institute of Public Health.