Berlin, Apr 11 (IANS): The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) expects that its top athletes, who have qualified for this year's Tokyo Olympics, will be vaccinated soon.

"With the beginning of the second quarter of the year, the time has come when we expect, provided that the promised vaccine doses are available, that the athletes who have already qualified for the games will be vaccinated in a reasonable alternate merging," DOSB president Alfons Hoermann said on Sunday, reports DPA.

Currently, the number stands and 245 athletes, which would swell to a maximum of around 400 when the games are round the corner.

"All in all, and here I include the participants of the Paralympics, we're talking about a maximum around 2,000 people who would have to be vaccinated in time to safely represent our country at the biggest sporting event in the world," Hoermann explained.

The count also includes the coaches. Currently, about 13 per cent of the team members have already been vaccinated, while seven per cent refused to be vaccinated, Hoermann said.

"Around 10 per cent have already had the Covid-19 disease," he said.

For those athletes who don't want to be vaccinated, Hoermann doesn't fear any consequences for the Tokyo Games for the time being, as according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), there is no obligation to vaccinate.

"In the first version of the playbook, it became apparent that there would probably be no distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated people on site," he said.

"But changes are quite conceivable. The next playbook will be published at the end of the month," he added.

The Tokyo Olympics are due to start on July 23 and the Paralympics on August 24.