TOKYO: Japanese companies have fully started administering third COVID-19 vaccine shots to employees amid a surge in new infection cases with the omicron variant in the country.

Workplace booster vaccination started in full swing at ANA Holdings Inc.’s All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines Monday, focusing on flight crew staff on international services.

On Monday, ANA gave booster shots to 20 people while JAL inoculated 222 people. “I feel relieved being vaccinated early,” ANA pilot Masahiko Iwasaki said after receiving his third shot at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda.

On Saturday, ANA and JAL gave third shots to 10 people in total. ANA plans to increase the number of daily booster doses to 600, and JAL plans to administer up to 500 doses per day.

ANA plans to administer booster shots to 20,000 people, including families of employees and customer employees, at Haneda airport. JAL is slated to inoculate 17,000 employees.

Amid the slow booster rollout in Japan, the government has eased workplace vaccination rules, lowering the minimum required number of daily shots per venue from 1,000 to 500.

The move is part of an effort by the government to raise the number of daily doses to one million as early as possible.

JIJI Press