TOKYO: The Japanese Self-Defense Forces reopened its mass COVID-19 vaccination site in Tokyo on Monday amid a resurgence of infections across the country.

The vaccination center, located inside a government building in the Otemachi district of the Japanese capital’s Chiyoda Ward, aims to support municipalities’ efforts to administer booster shots.

The SDF plans to set up a venue in the western city of Osaka on Feb. 7, and up to 3,120 people are expected to be inoculated at the two sites per day until the end of July.

Vaccinations at the Tokyo site began at around 8 a.m. (11 p.m. Sunday GMT). There were no age restrictions on who can be inoculated, so people of varying ages came to receive shots.

“Vaccinations are still limited to elderly people where I live, and I wanted to get a shot as swiftly as possible so as to not infect my wife and child,” said Daisuke Ikebata, a 44-year-old company worker from the city of Chofu in Tokyo.

“My daughter booked (the vaccination) for me so that I can be vaccinated as early as possible,” a 72-year-old woman from the capital’s Itabashi Ward said. “Vaccines are the only way to reduce elderly people’s worries amid the extraordinary state of infections.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Tokyo site. “The pace of booster shots will be accelerated,” he told reporters.

The SDF inoculated around 10,000 people per day at the same building last year. However, it was forced to downsize its operations this time as upper floors of the site could not be used due to the aging of the elevators, limiting the available space to just the first floor and a makeshift area outdoors.

People aged 18 or older are eligible for the booster shot at the SDF-run site, which uses Moderna Inc.’s vaccine. Users must have their vaccine vouchers issued by their local municipalities to book spots and receive shots.

The SDF administered some 1.96 million COVID-19 vaccine doses at its Tokyo and Osaka venues between May and November 2021 the last time it set up mass vaccination sites. The decision to resume operations comes in response to the spread of the omicron variant.

JIJI Press