Tokyo vaccination centre to provide shots to younger persons as Olympics loom
12 June, 2021
The main coronavirus vaccination centre in the Japanese capital of Tokyo will get started booking shots for people under 65 from Saturday, media reported on Thursday, since it ramps up inoculation efforts before the 2020 Olympics open next month.
Japan started vaccinating front-line health personnel and elderly people in February, however the slow pace compared with other major industrialised nations has spurred demands the Tokyo Games to be delayed again or cancelled.
Opening up vaccinations to many citizens may help the government ease concern the united states is unprepared to host thousands of foreign athletes and Olympic officials as its healthcare system struggles with a fourth wave of infections.
Vaccinations have mostly been left to local health authorities to handle with some cities and towns vaccinating residents faster than others.
The Tokyo vaccination centre may also begin taking appointments by telephone for the very first time from Saturday, in addition to online bookings in a bid to inspire more people to get shots, the Sankei newspaper reported.
A spokeswoman at the Ministry of Defence, which operates the site, declined to touch upon the telephone and didn't immediately respond to a contact.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday Japan aims to complete vaccinating everyone who would like a shot by October-November. That may necessitate about 1 million injections a day.
"I want to explain to the G7 about our measures to tackle infections and our intention to carry a safe and sound games and win their understanding," Suga told reporters as he left his residence in Tokyo for a G7 meeting in Britain.
Politics and money
With significantly less than 50 days before the Olympics open, Japan has vaccinated just over a tenth of its population with at least one dose.
Organisers will this month decide whether to allow people in Japan to wait events. Spectators from abroad are not allowed.
The Games have grown to be a major political issue for the federal government given widespread public opposition to holding them through the pandemic.
The financial stakes are also huge.
The organiser estimates that the price tag on the Olympics, including $3 billion caused by last year's delay, will be more than $15 billion.
In an indicator of continued concern about the chance of more infections through the Games, however, the governor of Chiba prefecture on Thursday cancelled plans for a patio Olympic viewing site in a park that could have drawn a large number of people.
"We have made a decision to cancel plans for the live site," Toshihito Kumagai told a press briefing.
Near Tokyo, Chiba is because of host four Olympic events - surfing, fencing, wrestling and taekwondo - and four Paralympic events. On Wednesday, the prefecture recorded 106 new COVID-19 cases weighed against 440 in Tokyo.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com