TOKYO: COVID-19 vaccinations for residents of Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures aged 65 or over began Monday at the Osaka mass vaccination site operated by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, a move that brought the number of prefectures covered by SDF-run vaccination venues to seven.

The addition of the two prefectures neighboring the western Japanese prefecture of Osaka expanded the combined scope of people eligible for inoculations at the venue in Osaka and another SDF-run site in Tokyo to the maximum level initially planned.

Bookings for shots can be made through the Defense Ministry homepage or the Line messaging app.

Reservations for the two weeks from June 14 can be made from around 11 a.m. Monday (2 a.m. GMT) for the Tokyo venue and from around 1 p.m. the same day for the Osaka venue.

The sites initially only allowed bookings for the upcoming week, but the reservation period was expanded to two weeks to urge people to get appointments as swiftly as possible before many start to receive their second jabs from June 28.

The Tokyo and Osaka venues targeted only residents of the city of Osaka and the Japanese capital’s 23 wards at the time of their launch on May 24. The sites covered those living in the prefectures of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Osaka by the following week.

The daily number of shots that can be administered was also gradually raised from 7,500 at the start of the scheme to the maximum limit of 15,000 by May 31.

With the expansion of areas covered by the Osaka venue, free shuttle buses will run every 30 minutes linking the venue with Shin-Osaka and Tennoji stations, in addition to those already picking up shot-receivers at Osaka and Namba stations.

In Tokyo, shuttle buses take people to the vaccination site from Tokyo Station every five minutes, also free of charge.

JIJI Press