BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary began inoculating its Olympic athletes against COVID-19 on Friday to ease their preparation for the Tokyo and Beijing games, according to a statement on the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) web site.
The HOC said 868 athletes were selected for the inoculation drive as they stand a chance to qualify for either the Tokyo games, postponed from 2020 to this summer, or the Beijing winter games to be held in 2022.
The athletes get early priority as Hungary has just completed the vaccinations of medical professionals and begun inoculating the elderly. The general population will begin getting jabs next month, premier Viktor Orban said.
The athletes will get shots of the Moderna vaccine in the order of their scheduled training camps and qualification tournaments, the HOC said.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai @mdunai; editing by John Stonestreet)
