Tokyo: Tokyo Has launched a mass vaccination campaign for COVID-19 booster shots at a makeshift center run by the Army Japan Tries to accelerate the delayed third time to counter increasing infections.
Japan began giving medical workers booster shots in December, but has provided such vaccinations to only 2.7 percent of the population after a delay in the decision to shorten the interval between the first two coronavirus shots and boosters to an initial eight to six months. .
The demand for shots is intense: all slots for the nearly 4,300 doses delivered at the center this week are being filled in under 9 minutes as a result of online reservations that began on Friday. Providing vaccine made by the center Moderna, Inc.,
On a smaller scale, people 65 and older can get booster shots elsewhere.
The center operated by the Self-Defense Force in the city of Tokyo reopened on Monday after closing in late November. It will vaccinate around 720 people aged 18 years or older per day this week, increasing to more than 2,000 daily next month. Another military base in Osaka will begin booster shots next week.
omicron The variant is spreading rapidly, making the newly reported infections much higher than the earlier waves of the coronavirus. Tokyo reported 15,895 new cases on Sunday, a new high for Sunday.
About half of its hospital capacity has been filled. Nationwide, Japan recorded nearly 78,000 cases for a total of 2.68 million, with nearly 18,700 deaths.
A man in his 50s said in an interview with Japanese media that vaccinations were slow in his area and that he was relieved of being shot. Another, in his 40s, said he was eager to get vaccinated because Omicron infections were spreading in his son’s elementary school.
Prime Minister fumio kishida Visited a Tokyo vaccination center on Monday and said most cities expected to provide booster shots for Japanese people over 65 by the end of February. Young Japanese are next in line, but many haven’t received the coupons needed to apply for the shots and aren’t likely to get boosters until March or later.
Kishida said the decision to close Japan’s borders to most new foreign travelers in late November had helped slow the latest surge in infections.
The government has resisted imposing strict lockdowns to curb the pandemic, largely relying on requests from restaurants to reduce their opening hours and to ask the public to wear face masks and follow social distancing.
Even though such practices kept the number of cases relatively low in much of Japan, and contributed to a sharp drop in infections in the autumn, the pandemic is taking a long, steady economic toll.
“Japan’s extremely slow booster shots are likely to significantly delay its economic recovery compared to many other countries,” it said. Toshihiro NagahamaChief Economist of Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
Pandemic restrictions are in place in much of Japan, including Tokyo and other large cities such as Osaka and Kyoto, for the first time since September.
The government has faced harsh criticism over the delay in its pandemic response, particularly the slow start to the first two Covid-19 shots last year amid a shortage of imported vaccines.
After Kishida’s predecessor Yoshihide Suga set a goal of providing 1 million jabs per day to eliminate vaccination to most of the elderly population before last year’s Tokyo Olympics, the vaccination rate jumped to nearly 80%.
Japan began giving medical workers booster shots in December, but has provided such vaccinations to only 2.7 percent of the population after a delay in the decision to shorten the interval between the first two coronavirus shots and boosters to an initial eight to six months. .
The demand for shots is intense: all slots for the nearly 4,300 doses delivered at the center this week are being filled in under 9 minutes as a result of online reservations that began on Friday. Providing vaccine made by the center Moderna, Inc.,
On a smaller scale, people 65 and older can get booster shots elsewhere.
The center operated by the Self-Defense Force in the city of Tokyo reopened on Monday after closing in late November. It will vaccinate around 720 people aged 18 years or older per day this week, increasing to more than 2,000 daily next month. Another military base in Osaka will begin booster shots next week.
omicron The variant is spreading rapidly, making the newly reported infections much higher than the earlier waves of the coronavirus. Tokyo reported 15,895 new cases on Sunday, a new high for Sunday.
About half of its hospital capacity has been filled. Nationwide, Japan recorded nearly 78,000 cases for a total of 2.68 million, with nearly 18,700 deaths.
A man in his 50s said in an interview with Japanese media that vaccinations were slow in his area and that he was relieved of being shot. Another, in his 40s, said he was eager to get vaccinated because Omicron infections were spreading in his son’s elementary school.
Prime Minister fumio kishida Visited a Tokyo vaccination center on Monday and said most cities expected to provide booster shots for Japanese people over 65 by the end of February. Young Japanese are next in line, but many haven’t received the coupons needed to apply for the shots and aren’t likely to get boosters until March or later.
Kishida said the decision to close Japan’s borders to most new foreign travelers in late November had helped slow the latest surge in infections.
The government has resisted imposing strict lockdowns to curb the pandemic, largely relying on requests from restaurants to reduce their opening hours and to ask the public to wear face masks and follow social distancing.
Even though such practices kept the number of cases relatively low in much of Japan, and contributed to a sharp drop in infections in the autumn, the pandemic is taking a long, steady economic toll.
“Japan’s extremely slow booster shots are likely to significantly delay its economic recovery compared to many other countries,” it said. Toshihiro NagahamaChief Economist of Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
Pandemic restrictions are in place in much of Japan, including Tokyo and other large cities such as Osaka and Kyoto, for the first time since September.
The government has faced harsh criticism over the delay in its pandemic response, particularly the slow start to the first two Covid-19 shots last year amid a shortage of imported vaccines.
After Kishida’s predecessor Yoshihide Suga set a goal of providing 1 million jabs per day to eliminate vaccination to most of the elderly population before last year’s Tokyo Olympics, the vaccination rate jumped to nearly 80%.
,