Japan is working closely with the International Olympic Committee to prepare for the Games, and despite concerns over Covid-19 cases, there are no plans to postpone, the Japanese minister responsible for vaccinations said. .
“Unless they decide otherwise, we just have to prepare for the Games, how to control the situation. I think it changes almost every day, so they have to be prepared for it. But I do not think they think about postponing it. ” Taro Kono told CNBC’s Martin Soong on Wednesday.
The Olympic torch was removed from the public streets of Osaka on Wednesday when the department declared a state of emergency after coronavirus cases reached record highs.
“Yes, the situation in Osaka is particularly worrying,” said Kono, who is also reform minister. A new virus variant similar to the one first discovered in the UK is spreading rapidly in Osaka, he added.
“We have identified a similar mutation in Tokyo, so we are concerned (that) Osaka may follow in a few weeks. So we need to pay attention to the situation,” he said.
A man with a face mask stands behind the Olympic symbols of the five interlaced rings depicted near the National Stadium in Tokyo.
James Matsumoto, SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images
Osaka’s population is much smaller than that of Tokyo, but the city reported 878 new cases on April 7, compared to 555 in Tokyo on the same day.
The Summer Olympics will officially start in Tokyo on July 23, a little over 100 days away. They were delayed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the Games will be greatly scaled back compared to previous years, as international spectators were banned from entering the country due to concerns about Covid-19.
“Well, unfortunately we may not have as many spectators watching the match in the stadium, but most people are going to watch television anyway,” Kono said.
Delay in vaccine deployment in Japan
Japan will vaccinate the country’s citizens from Monday and will continue into the next phase of vaccine deployment hampered by vaccine delays.
According to Kono, less than 1% of the population has been vaccinated so far, but he is hopeful that vaccinations will be in full swing by mid-May when the European Union vaccines arrive.
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to develop a vaccine domestically, and we have to rely on the import of (the) vaccine that comes from the EU,” Kono said. “At the moment we have approved the Pfizer vaccine and it will start next Monday for the senior citizens.”
He said the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca would be ‘very important’ because it would be manufactured in Japan, which would cut off the negotiations.
His interview came hours before drug regulators in the EU and the UK announced on Wednesday that there could be a possible link between the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and rare blood clotting problems. However, both regulators have pointed out that the benefits of vaccination still outweigh the risks.
My job is to get the vaccine from Europe to Japan, and to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
Taro Kono
Japan’s vaccination minister
“The biggest headache for me is going through the (EU) transparency mechanism,” Kono said, referring to a measure that would allow EU member states to curb vaccine exports.
“If we (a) produced domestic vaccine or domestically, more than half of my headaches are gone,” he said.
On the question of whether his handling of the coronavirus outbreak in Japan could affect his chances of the next prime minister, Kono is dismissive.
“My job is to get the vaccine from Europe to Japan, and (to) vaccinate as many people as possible,” he said. “You do not have to think about the premiership. You just have to do your job to protect the (lives) of the people.”