Around 700 athletes and officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) were vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Manila Prince Hotel in Manila on Friday, May 28.
The National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said the vaccinated delegates will participate in the Summer Olympics that will be held in Tokyo, Japan from July 23 to August 8, 2021 and in the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi, Vietnam from November 21 to December 2, 2021.
The inoculation of the country's representatives in the major sporting events came after Malacañang announced last week that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases approved the proposals to allow their early vaccination.
According to the POC, there were nine athletes who qualifed for the Tokyo Olympics. They are Heidilyn Diaz (weightlifting); EJ Obiena (pole vault); Carlos Yulo (gymnastics); Eumir Marcial, Irish Magno, Carlo Paalam, and Nesthy Petecio (boxing); Cris Nievarez (rowing); and Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo).
Meanwhile, at least 626 athletes will be sent by the POC to the Hanoi SEA Games.
In a statement, POC President Bambol Tolentino said the sports community "can now heave a sigh of relief" as he thanked the goverment task forces for prioritizing the competing athletes in the vaccination program.