Japan kicks off a mass vaccination programme in Tokyo and Osaka, as the COVID crisis worsens. The military has set up centres offering thousands of shots each day.
They are prioritising the elderly. The country’s vaccination drive started late and was hampered by supply shortages and organisational hurdles. As a result, Japan is lagging significantly behind other developed nations. Only about 1.9% of the population is fully vaccinated.
Japan’s efficient healthcare system has been increasingly overwhelmed by the latest surge, with some hospitals running out of beds and ventilators.
Large parts of Japan are currently under a state of emergency to give regional authorities more power to enforce measures against the pandemic. The country has recorded more than 700,000 infections and 12,000 COVID-19 deaths from the virus so far.
With the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to start in July, there’s mounting pressure to call off the Games.
The mass vaccination drive is being run by Japan’s defence forces and will go over for the next three months.
Authorities hope that by the end of July, people aged 65 and above will have completed their vaccinations. The country started vaccinating its people only in February, later than most other developed nations.
There is considerable anxiety about the extremely slow rollout of vaccines, as well as confusion over how to secure slots for the elderly.
While Japan had long managed to avoid large scale outbreaks seen in other countries, recent weeks have seen a steady increase in cases.