The likelihood of the Tokyo Olympics even going ahead NEXT summer is very slim, according to a top scientist, who believes the Games will not happen if a coronavirus vaccine isn’t developed.
The Olympic Games were meant to go ahead this summer in Japan, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, they have now been postponed till next year, even though the country has dealt with COVID-19 very well, with the death count in Japan sitting under 100 people.
Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe and IOC chief Thomas Bach were both insistent that the Games would go on as planned this summer. However, due to the pressure they received from leaders around the world, they agreed to postpone the Games as they would be a massive health risk with so many people from all over mixed in one area.
Professor Devi Sridhar, who is chair of global health at the University of Edinburgh, believes that if the Games are to happen next year, a vaccine for the disease will have to of been found.
The professor acknowledges reports from scientists that a vaccine could be possible, before saying, as per The Sun: “If we do get a vaccine within the next year, then actually I think that (Olympics) is realistic.”
Brilliant news for athletics fans, that is until the professor follows up by stating: “If we don’t get a scientific breakthrough, then I think that looks very unrealistic.”
Not so brilliant.
Scientists around the world are desperately trying to develop a vaccine for the virus, which so far has killed over 15,000 people in the UK alone.
The professor also believes the decision to postpone the Games was the correct thing to do, as he admitted: “I think they’ve made the right decision in saying we are going to put it back a year and re-evaluate.”
Sridhar also adds that the best way we can deal with this situation, for now at least, is to support both our scientific and NHS community as they battle on the front line against the coronavirus, as “science in the long-term is going to be the way we get out of this.”