Japan has administered COVID-19 vaccines to more than 10 million people, the Prime Minister s Office says, as the country tries to speed up inoculations that are lagging far behind other developed countries.
The Japanese government approves Pfizer Inc. s COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, the first shot to be made available to children in the country.
Japan opens mass state-run COVID vaccination centers in Tokyo, Osaka
Japan opened large-scale state-run coronavirus vaccination centers on Monday in Tokyo and Osaka in a bid to accelerate the country s inoculation program that has lagged behind other developed countries and fueled concerns about the plan to hold the Olympics in the capital in two months.
The centers, run by the Self-Defense Forces, will operate for three months from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. including weekends and national holidays. They will use the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. of the United States, which was approved by the government on Friday.
Elderly people wait in line at a large-scale coronavirus vaccination center launched by the Self-Defense Forces on May 24, 2021, in Tokyo (Kyodo)
Japan PM Suga orders creation of large-scale vaccination center in Tokyo
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday instructed Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi to set up a large-scale vaccination center in Tokyo to deliver COVID-19 shots to the elderly faster.
The center will launch on May 24 and be staffed by Self-Defense Forces doctors and nurses, running for about three months, Kishi said at a press conference. Nurses from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are seen at a hospital in Hokkaido in December 2020, due to a shortage of health care workers following a series of coronavirus infections there. (Kyodo)
About 900,000 people aged 65 or older residing in the capital and neighboring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures are expected to mainly use the center, which will exclusively offer Moderna Inc. s vaccine, according to sources familiar with the plan.
Japan expects to receive 50 million additional doses of the Pfizer Inc. COVID-19 vaccine after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on the pharmaceutical firm to boost supplies, government sources say.