MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Over 85% of Russian athletes bound for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China’s Beijing have been vaccinated against COVID-19, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said on Tuesday.
In line with anti-COVID-19 measures at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China, all unvaccinated participants of the major global event must be placed under a 21-day quarantine upon their arrival.
"We are paying a particular attention to anti-COVID measures and testing," Chernyshenko, who oversees sports, culture and tourism in the Russian government, said. "Our figure of vaccinated athletes is high and it exceeds 85%."
"According to my instructions, all [Russian sports] federations must complete the process of [anti-COVID] vaccination among athletes, coaches and assist personnel by the end of the year," he added.
Speaking at a governmental session on Tuesday, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said the ministry set the task of vaccinating up to almost one hundred percent of athletes, who were selected for the 2022 Olympics.
"Strict [anti-COVID] measures will be in place during the Games in Beijing just like it was in Tokyo [during the 2020 Olympics]," Matytsin said. "We are planning to vaccinate up to 100% of our athletes and will ensure tight measures at our training camps."
"Priority aspects in the preparations concern the health of athletes, the minimization and possible nullification of chances to contract the coronavirus. The anti-doping work is also among the priorities," the minister added.
President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov stated last month that Russian Olympic team’s athletes aged under 18 had been excused from obligatory anti-COVID-19 jabs ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games announced to TASS on October 4 that athletes inoculated with Russian-made anti-COVID-19 vaccines would be allowed to participate in the 2022 Winter Games.
Russia has so far registered five COVID-19 vaccines. They are Sputnik V and Sputnik Light developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, EpiVacCorona and EpiVacCorona-N created by the Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology and CoviVac from the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products.
Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, EpiVacCorona-N and CoviVac are two-dose shots, while Sputnik Light is a single-dose vaccine.
2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are scheduled to be held between February 4 and 20, while the Paralympic Winter Games will be held on March 4-13.
During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2008) as well as the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2022).
Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Olympics and Paralympics in a tight race, beating Kazakhstan’s Almaty in 2015, by chalking up 44 votes against its rival’s 40.