TOKYO: Tickets for COVID-19 vaccinations will be sent to people aged 65 or older in Japan from mid-March, according to the health ministry’s vaccination schedule.

The ministry presented the schedule at a briefing session for local governments on Monday.

According to the ministry, the vaccination tickets will be sent to about 36 million elderly people, who are third priority for vaccinations, after the first group of 10,000 to 20,000 medical workers and the second of 3.7 million other medical workers.

Municipal governments, which will manage vaccination programs, are preparing to send the tickets, with a view to starting vaccinations as soon as late March.

In Japan, work to approve US drugmaker Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine is under way. The Pfizer vaccine should be administered twice with an interval of three weeks.

The ministry’ vaccination schedule calls for finishing vaccinations for elderly people within three months.

The ministry also plans to allow workers at elderly care homes, if they meet certain conditions, to have vaccinations along with the facilities’ residents.

JIJI Press