Vaccination of health workers should begin in Japan, with older people scheduled for April

The first doses of Pfizer Inc. ‘s COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to 40,000 essential workers in 100 medical facilities on Wednesday, Taro Kono, the minister of cabinets who is being vaccinated, told a news conference on Tuesday.

The same workers will receive their second dose from 10 March.

Kono said it is possible that other medical workers – those who do not fall into the initial category – may receive their first dose before March 10 as soon as the second doses are safe for essential workers.

The vaccination of older people will begin in early April 1 after medical workers receive their shots, Kono said, adding that municipal governments are encouraged not to spend more than two months and three weeks completing this next phase of the process. . .

Vaccination of the rest of the population will then officially begin, although it is possible that continuous vaccinations of one preferred group may overlap with the next.

Separate vaccines from Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca PLC are awaiting approval, Kono said, though its launch could speed up the process.

About 64,350 bottles of Pfizer’s vaccine arrived on a chartered flight from the European Union last week. Kono did not want to specify when the second flight with additional vials would arrive, but said the central government would ensure that enough vaccines are secured to keep the process going smoothly.

The vaccination process in the United States has been hampered from the outset by significant delays and mistrust of public officials. Kono said Japan would certainly face its own problems because it wanted to eradicate the virus, but the government was preparing to respond flexibly and quickly to such issues.

Regarding young people who are likely to be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, Kono said it is crucial that they get the chance.

“It is very important that young people receive the vaccine to prevent the virus from spreading further,” he said.

With the opening ceremony of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo for the end of July, it remains a major concern whether the spread of the virus will be sufficiently reduced by that time.