TOKYO: An increasing number of Japanese universities with medical faculty are applying for a government program to provide COVID-19 vaccinations for students and faculty members.

While such universities are accelerating preparations to start inoculations in order to bring back normal college life, institutions without medical students are struggling to secure people who can give vaccine shots.

Hiroshima University will start vaccinations for students and others on June 21 in cooperation with the city government of Higashihiroshima in the western prefecture of Hiroshima, where one of the university campuses is located.

“We’re also considering starting inoculations for local residents,” an official of the university said.

Tohoku University has already set up a vaccination center at a commercial facility in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, in cooperation with the prefectural and city governments. The university will start giving shots for students on June 21 using a section of the center.

Keio University in Tokyo, which has three medical faculties, will also start inoculating students and others on June 21.

“We will regain our campus life, which has been under strict restrictions since April last year, and activate class and research environments and all kinds of extracurricular activities,” Keio University President Kohei Ito said in a video message on Monday.

Kindai University in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, which will also start giving shots to students on June 21, said that it “aims to fully resume face-to-face classes.”

Some universities are working together in local areas to carry out inoculations.

Hirosaki University in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, is set to give vaccine shots to students and others in cooperation with four nearby schools, including Hirosaki Gakuin University.

Kobe University in the western prefecture of Hyogo has decided to offer vaccinations for students of Kobe Shoin Women’s University.

Meanwhile, universities without medical faculty and small institutions are struggling to secure people who can administer vaccine doses.

“We’re still considering (our response) as we face the challenge of securing doctors and other medical personnel,” an official of Waseda University in Tokyo said.

An official of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, also pointed to the difficulty of securing medical personnel. “We’ll use various channels to ask for help,” the official said.

An official of Toyohashi University of Technology in the central prefecture of Aichi said it has no prospects of finding medical workers.

On Tuesday, the education ministry told universities considering providing vaccinations under the government’s workplace vaccination program, under which vaccine shots will be given to employees at corporations and students and faculty members at universities aged 18 and above, to consider allowing students and faculty members of other universities and local residents to get vaccinated.

According to the ministry, 32 universities had filed for the program by noon on Thursday.

JIJI Press