BRITISH Tokyo Olympic hopefuls have been reassured they CAN take the Covid-19 vaccine without danger of it contributing to failed doping tests.
UK anti-doping chiefs admitted last week that they were unable to be certain if there was a risk of the vaccine bringing positive test results.
Team GB Olympic hopefuls have been reassured they can take the Covid-19 vaccine before the the GamesCredit: EPA
But world bosses have now confirmed the vaccine does not contain any prescribed substances.
UKAD’s Head of Science and Medicine, Nick Wojek said: “We welcome the statement made by WADA regarding their position on COVID-19 vaccines.
“UK athletes should feel confident that they will not be in breach of the World Anti-Doping Code if they receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
“The health and wellbeing of athletes is of primary importance to us and we understand the deployment of new vaccines will raise questions from athletes.
“We will continue to liaise with WADA so that athletes continue to receive the assurances they need about the anti-doping status of new vaccines as they are approved for use.”
Meanwhile, chiefs are confident fans will be able to attend the Games in Tokyo under plans to vaccinate spectators and athletes upon their arrival in Japan.
International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach said recently: “In order to protect the Japanese people, and out of respect for the Japanese people, the IOC will undertake great effort so that Olympic participants and visitors will arrive here vaccinated if, by then, a vaccine is available.”
The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally due to start last July.
But they were postponed for a year due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
It had been claimed the Olympics would not go ahead without a vaccine.
Should that scenario unfold, it would be only the fourth time in modern history that the event would have been cancelled
The other three times were called off due to the two World Wars, in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
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Source: Athletics - thesun.co.uk
