Is Japan’s Low Immunization Rate a Problem for the Olympics-
There are less than 100 days to go before the Tokyo Olympics and the torch relay is busy crisscrossing all of Japan’s 47 prefectures. But far from building excitement for the delayed 2020 Games, the flame is sparking anxiety about proceeding with the tournament amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Torch runners are being heckled by protesters.
“Japanese people are generally cheerful, kind and polite,” says Mieko Nakabayashi, a former lawmaker and current professor at Waseda University’s School of Social Sciences in Tokyo. “But people are frustrated about the COVID situation and some don’t feel they have another place to express that.” She says a close friend of his, chosen to be a torchbearer, was among those verbally abused.
It doesn’t help, of course, that Japan is in the middle of a fourth wave of COVID-19, with 4,111 new cases reported Sunday. (Globally, COVID-19 deaths recently breached 3 million.)
Fears are compounded by a vaccination rate of less than 1% across Japan’s population, which is the world’s oldest, with 28% of Japanese aged 65 or above. Despite foreign fans being banned from the Games, and str…
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