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Japan nearing target of stable 1m booster shots per day

The total number of people who had received their third vaccine shots stood at 16 million as of Friday. (AFP)
The total number of people who had received their third vaccine shots stood at 16 million as of Friday. (AFP)
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19 Feb 2022 07:02:26 GMT9
19 Feb 2022 07:02:26 GMT9

TOKYO: Japan is approaching its target of stably administering one million COVID-19 booster vaccine shots per day, with local governments being pushed to redouble efforts.

The daily number of booster inoculations registered on the country’s vaccination data recording system has been around one million for days.

In order to achieve the target, set by Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio, the prime minister’s office takes a carrot-and-stick approach to urge local governments to accelerate their vaccine rollouts.

A local government official expressed frustration with the state, saying that it is “passing the buck” to local governments.

The daily number of booster shots registered on the system came to about 1.1 million on Tuesday, 1.05 million on Wednesday, 990,000 on Thursday and 950,000 on Friday.

The daily figures, however, may be larger than the numbers of shots actually given per day, as some local governments seem to register numbers for past few days in one go instead of reporting daily figures every day.

The total number of people who had received their third vaccine shots stood at 16 million as of Friday, far below the government’s initial plan of inoculating 37.46 million people by the end of this month.

According to a health ministry survey released Friday, 74 percent of some 51,000 elderly care facilities across the country expect to finish administering booster shots for their residents and other eligible people by the end of this month.

Health minister Shigeyuki Goto had set a target of finishing administering booster shots to all residents and staff of such facilities willing to get third shots by the end of February.

At a press conference Thursday, Kishida said that the pace of booster vaccine rollouts is picking up.

“We’ll make utmost efforts without loosening the reins to achieve the target of administering more than one million doses per day stably,” he said.

The prime minister’s office is trying hard to further increase the number of daily inoculations.

The office has established a new section on its website, introducing innovative measures taken by local governments, such as those of Kobe.

Kobe, the capital of Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, has launched a service in which the city secures reservation slots to get booster shots on behalf of residents. It also runs an online system enabling residents to check when they will be able to get vaccination tickets.

The prime minister’s office also makes sure to push local governments lagging in giving booster shots to speed up. Vaccination rates per population at all prefectures and ordinance-designated major cities are disclosed on the website as well.

Noriko Horiuchi, minister in charge of COVID-19 vaccinations, urges local leaders to accelerate booster rollouts.

On Friday, Horiuchi held an online meeting with Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui, stressing that “cooperation (of the western Japan city) is essential.”

The delay in booster vaccinations is believed to reflect not only the slow moves by authorities but also people’s fears of adverse reactions caused by Moderna Inc.’s vaccine.

“Things would have been different if the central government had been able to secure many shots of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine,” a local government source said.

“There’s a limit to what local governments can do,” a mayor said. “The central government still has a lot to do, such as calling on the public (to get booster shots.)”

JIJI Press

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