British Olympic head says Olympic athletes shouldn't be fast-tracked for Covid-19 vaccine. Do you agree? We don't.

I think they should. I don't want an outbreak, and watching the Olympics bring me joy.

FIFA is going to or already has given their athletes the vaccine, whether they admit it or not. And I don't care bc I love soccer and love watching, and care about the people playing it, even if they should have been following Covid protocols but haven't.

LetsRun.com wrote:

The reality is there are only like 11,000 summer Olympians. To fast track them so that billions across the globe can be entertained and be given something to enjoy during a hellish time is far from crazy - it's rationale. Plus given Japan a return on the $15 billion they have spent on this also make sense.

Agree 100%

The Olympics can serve as a symbolic victory over the pandemic. We need the athletes vaccinated so the Olympics can go on!

Totally agree...

However, like so much of the pandemic it’s about the optics. It’s become so easy for rational arguments to be shouted down.

I think the wealthy should be given the vaccine first, because they are the most productive and therefore important people in society. They are the job creators and value creators. Elon Musk has created over $100 billion of value to society over the last 12 months. And that's just for himself!

I think he simply means that they shouldn't jump the queue in front of 85 year old pensioners, which seems reasonable to me.

The UK government is making a big thing of setting the middle of February as the target date of having all vulnerable groups vaccinated. So when the Olympic head says things could be different in February, he"s saying the athletes could be given priority over Joe Blogs.

So what other entertainers should be fast-tracked? Movie stars? Musicians? Other athletes? You’re talking about a limited, potentially life-saving resource. There needs to be objective, clearly defined metrics to determine where it’s most needed. “Would be nice for people” doesn’t really cut it.

There are still unknown a few possible complications with the vaccine. I know one for women is they still dont know the long term effect it may have on the placenta.

It's atleast from what I have seen is still in a experimental faze and those who take it will be in a program to be monitored for the next two years.

I want to see the Olympics as much as anyone and im sure given the option most Olympians would take it in order to be in the games.

Guess everyone will have to choose what they think is best for them. Assuming the pharmaceutical company's in the US wont let athletes use alturnatives like Hydroixcloroquin.

Even with the vaccine or other drugs and vitamins people are still contiguous so kinda makes the vaccine pointless people will still spread and bring it home.

when you move someone up in the queue you have to move someone down, which 80-yearolds are you picking to die? which hospital with patients in tents don't need their nurses?

albertwo wrote:

when you move someone up in the queue you have to move someone down, which 80-yearolds are you picking to die? which hospital with patients in tents don't need their nurses?

In civilised countries these scenarios don't happen,you may have that situation in the States but most of us don't.

A problem would be that the number needed to be vaccinated would be far far high as the final team sent would not be clear until a week or so prior to the Games.

You then have the support staff.

We have seen in Tennis the numbers needed to be controlled.

No they shouldn't. I'm a big fan of the Olympics and sport in general, but there are far more important things and people than professional sports and athletes. Sure it brings me joy, but so would not having 1000s of people dying every day from this disease.

Granted your post may be clickbait, I'll take the bait.

When we talk about vaccine distribution, this is what I believe we should really be focusing on:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/08/who-warns-inequitable-vaccine-distribution-helps-covid-thrive.html

That is 11,000 young, extremely healthy people who have virtually a ZERO chance of dying from Covid. That is also 11,000 people aged 65 and up who actually could die from Covid who are going to be pushed backward in line. I would love to see the Olympics this year but I disagree with prioritizing the Olympians. As a health care provider in the military, I received the vaccine early. However, we were recently turning away military retirees due to limited vaccines available and prioritizing young, healthy Soldiers in the prime of their life. I have know quite a few Soldiers who have been infected this year. Total who died of the disease? Zero. But if one of those retirees who we turned away gets infected, his/her days could be limited. Personally, I feel guilty having gotten the vaccine before them even though my position requires it.

"Entertainment" is not THAT important. Why not prioritize the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL? And what about people who enjoy college basketball? Don't they deserve to be entertained? Should we push all college basketball players to the front of the line? How about movies? People love to watch movies ... so let's move the entire Screen Actors Guild to the front. What about moving singers and band members to the front so they can entertain people in concerts? Where does it end?

You can make a case for almost anyone to move to the front if you use "entertainment" as a reason. Heck, maybe if every millionaire professional athlete, actor & actress, and singer had donated some serious money to research (collectively they could easily have donated over $1 billion) we could have had a vaccine a couple months ago. How many liver could have been saved?

There hasn’t been a single policy implemented that has been made with any regard to what actually makes sense. Every single decision has been made based on being scared to get any backlash. Hospitals have been throwing out vaccines in order to follow the process implemented by the “geniuses” in charge.

No.

11k just the athletes. Then add in every support person that will be involved and what about spectators, will they need the vaccine to be there? Huge number of potential fast tracked people just for some entertainment. Those vaccines absolutely need to be prioritized to people more at risk.

LetsRun.com wrote:

The reality is there are only like 11,000 summer Olympians. To fast track them so that billions across the globe can be entertained and be given something to enjoy during a hellish time is far from crazy - it's rationale.

That's just the athletes. What about the judges, marshals, timekeepers, measurers, call room officials, equipment handlers, the kids who carry the bags, the people who hand out the water bottles? Add in the coaches, trainers, doctors, physiotherapists, masseurs, team officials etc.

I could add make-up artists and hairdressers for the rhythmic gymnasts and synchronized swimmers. Then there are the TV crews, the radio and press, the interviewers, all of which will be in many languages. Plus all the technicians to make sure all the equipment is working or can repair it, the janitors, cleaning staff etc. And finally all the pomp of the opening and closing ceremonies with the marching bands and dancers.

How many people are required to put on the Olympics even assuming there are zero spectators.? I would guess there are something like three staff for every athlete to put on a real Olympics.

Out of curiosity I did a quick search for the 2012 Olympics:

10,500 Athletes

7,500 Team Officials

3,000 Technical Officials

375 Doctors

25,000 Journalists

Also: (but many of these would be to do with spectators)

70,000 Volunteers

23,700 Security Detail

Erm, there are tons of people out there (including myself) working on products that are used to entertain/connect billions. It’s not clear to me why the olympics are different and deserve special treatment.