Japan begins Covid-19 shots for over 65s

Tokyo

JAPAN began Covid-19 vaccinations for its sizeable elderly population on Monday, with imported doses still in short supply and the pace unlikely to stop a fourth wave of infection.

Shots for people aged 65 and above began at some 120 sites across the country, using Pfizer's vaccine made in Europe and delivered to the regions in the past week.

Just 2,810 people in Tokyo are expected to get a shot from the first batch, while most regions will receive 1,000 doses or fewer, a health ministry schedule showed. Japan has a rapidly ageing population totalling 126 million.

Touring a vaccination centre in Hachioji, west of Tokyo, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he expected to secure some 100 million vaccine doses by the end of June, more than enough to give two doses to the elderly population of 36 million.

Tokyo on Monday began a month-long period of quasi-emergency measures to blunt a fourth wave of contagion driven by virulent mutant strains and with the planned start of the Summer Olympics just over 100 days away.

Shots for the general populace are not likely to be available until the late summer or even winter, too late to stem a resurgence of cases that appears to be focused on people in their 30s and 40s, said Haruka Sakamoto, a physician and researcher at Keio University in Tokyo.

"The currently available vaccination cannot prevent the fourth wave of the pandemic," she said. "I think the younger generation is now going to be more greatly affected compared to the previous waves."

Japan was among the last major economies to begin Covid-19 inoculations when it started in mid-February, after domestic trials to ensure safety. Japan is dependent on Pfizer's vaccine as the only Covid-19 shot approved by domestic regulators.

About 1.1 million people in Japan, mostly frontline healthcare workers, have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine's two-shot regimen so far. REUTERS