IOC strikes vaccine deals around Tokyo Games

The IOC has struck deals with two companies -- Pfizer and BioNTech -- for "coronavirus vaccine doses that will allow a significant proportion of athletes and officials" traveling to the Tokyo Games the "opportunity to be vaccinated before they arrive." The program will see distribution of "donated doses of the vaccine to Olympic and Paralympic Games participants in their home countries, where they would be administered by local officials and through domestic vaccination programs." This marks the "latest attempt by Olympic officials and Japanese organizers to assuage the concerns of a skeptical Japanese public." There remains "no requirement that athletes, coaches, officials or others attending the Games must be vaccinated" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/6).