Vaccination of Philippine athletes in high gear

MANILA, Philippines — National team members not seeing action in the Tokyo Olympics in July and the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in November are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, too.

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino received the good news from national testing czar Vince Dizon just days after Olympic and SEA Games-bound athletes, coaches, officials and delegates received jabs at the Manila Prince Hotel.

Also inoculated last Friday were members of the Para team competing in the Tokyo Paralympics in August and Hanoi ASEAN Para Games in January next year.

“This is another great news for our national athletes and for all of Philippine sports,” said Tolentino. “We thank the government for putting priority on our athletes and coaches for the vaccine rollout.”

The Tagaytay congressman and PhilCycling chief said the second round of vaccination for those who missed the first one as well as those who are training in the provinces and abroad are now being arranged.

There are close to 1,600 athletes and coaches in the national pool under the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) payroll and getting them all vaccinated would help fast-track the Nationals’ bid to get back to training in time for the major international events.