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| A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a nursing care facility in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on April 12. (File photo by= Kyodo /Pool photo) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] While Japan tries to speed up inoculations that are lagging far behind other developed countries, the country has administered COVID-19 vaccine doses to around 10 million people, the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday, Kyodo reported.
A total of 4,653,566 medical personnel and 5,734,023 people aged 65 and over had received at least one shot of vaccine as of Tuesday, equivalent to 8 percent of the country's population of 126 million. Of them, around 3.6 million people, equivalent to roughly 3 percent of the population, were fully vaccinated after receiving a second shot. The figure includes 3.13 million medical personnel and around 470,000 senior citizens.
The government expects vaccinations of medical personnel to be completed in 10 to 20 days if the current pace is maintained. Universities and companies are also preparing to start on-site vaccination of younger age groups later this month. A dearth of doctors and nurses to give shots is one of the key factors behind Japan's slow inoculation program, which is lagging behind other developed countries. Facing criticism for the slow coronavirus vaccine rollout, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has called for up to 1 million doses to be administered nationwide each day after mid-June and vaccinations of people aged 65 and over to be completed by the end of July.
