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Will Japan’s Notable Vaccines Be in Time for the Olympics? | World – Illinois News

Will Japan’s Notable Vaccines Be in Time for the Olympics? | World – Illinois News

Mari Yamaguchi Associated Press Tokyo (AP) — After months of frustration and delays, Japan has reached an astonishing benchmark of 1 million vaccines a day. However, the Olympics started in less than a month and the question remains, as only a small part of the country has been vaccinated. Is that enough? The pace of

Mari Yamaguchi Associated Press

Tokyo (AP) — After months of frustration and delays, Japan has reached an astonishing benchmark of 1 million vaccines a day. However, the Olympics started in less than a month and the question remains, as only a small part of the country has been vaccinated. Is that enough?

The pace of vaccination is accelerating, despite the fact that young people continue to hesitate in the false alarm campaign and authorities are delaying vaccination appointments as demand exceeds supply.

The continued political and bureaucratic turmoil and the arrival of highly contagious coronavirus variants may undermine government efforts to increase vaccination before the Olympics. I have a concern.

Thousands of private companies and several universities have participated in vaccination drives, complementing the government’s commitment to prioritize full vaccination of older people by the end of July.

Acceleration raises concerns about supply shortages, and future developments are uncertain. Vaccination Minister Taro Kono suddenly announced on Wednesday that many new vaccination appointments would be suspended, saying vaccine distribution was not keeping up with demand.

“It’s a tightrope walk,” Kono said.

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It depends heavily on whether young people in the country accept vaccination programs.

Even though more people get jabs and appear to be more likely to fully inoculate the country’s 36 million older people, younger people are still barely vaccinated during the summer vacation and the Olympics. Their move in can cause another surge in infections driven by the more contagious ones, according to experts, Delta strains that are expected to dominate by then.

Case revival among adolescents has already begun in Tokyo, reporting 619 new cases on Wednesday, up from the average of 405 over the last seven days.

Inoculation drives can lose steam if young people, who many believe are unlikely to develop serious symptoms, are not inoculated. Skeptics can be swayed by rumors about vaccines and false information online.

“How to encourage the younger generation to vaccinate is a big issue,” Kono said. Authorities plan to contact them on social media to provide accurate information.

Observers have acknowledged an unexpected turnaround in the vaccine campaign, despite concerns that things may slow down again.

Most recently, in early May, 250,000 vaccinations were given daily, with only 2-3% of the population fully vaccinated. Since then, the pace has reached one million a day, and the goals set by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga were once widely considered too ambitious.

As of Tuesday, about 8.2% of the country was fully vaccinated. It’s impressive here, according to Our World in Data, but it’s still low compared to the UK’s 46.3%, the US’s 44.9%, and the global average of 10%, given its slow deployment.

The workplace vaccination program started on Monday. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the government receives applications from about 4,000 sites run by businesses and universities, targeting more than 15 million employees, their families and students.

Suga now has a new goal of fully immunizing anyone who wants it by October or November. Authorities have not disclosed when new vaccination appointments will be resumed, but said the overall schedule of the program would not be affected.

The deployment of vaccinations in Japan began with health care workers in mid-February, a few months behind many other countries. The delay was due to additional clinical trials required for vaccines developed abroad.

Inoculation of the elderly began in mid-April, but was delayed due to supply and distribution uncertainties, failed booking procedures, and a shortage of health care workers to give shots.

Japan relies on imports because it is not yet ready to use vaccines developed domestically. Supply has increased since May, and elderly people who are afraid of the virus fired in a hurry, despite previous expectations of vaccine repellent in general.

Since May 24, Japan has opened military vaccination sites in Tokyo and Osaka, and local governments have set up tens of thousands of centers nationwide.

The Government of Japan and Olympic officials have accepted the International Olympic Committee’s donation of Pfizer doses to participants and vaccinated the public, despite their initial commitment to host a “safe and secure” Games without vaccines. Scrambled to accelerate.

Mizuho Research & Research has recently reported that if things go well, 70% of older people will be fully vaccinated by August and 70% of workplace vaccinations will be completed in late November. It is said that. It said it would boost GDP by 1% if achieved.

Many major retailers, automakers and trading companies are beginning to offer government-distributed Moderna Shots to employees and their families for free.

Anna Hatakeyama, a 26-year-old office worker, said she would get her first jab next Tuesday as part of her workplace vaccination campaign. She welcomes the shot, but believes it’s still slow to deploy.

“Most of my friends haven’t got it. I was lucky that my company was vaccinated,” she said.

To attract young people, tech giant SoftBank Group Corporation offers discount tickets for SoftBank Hawks professional baseball games for those who have completed vaccination. The company will open its first vaccination site in Tokyo on Monday and aims to open more vaccination sites for as many as 250,000 employees and their families and neighbors by the end of July.

Japan has historically been distrustful of vaccines. This is partly due to the frequent media coverage of rare side effects. A court ruling that held the government accountable for side effects associated with several vaccines led to the abolition of compulsory vaccination in the 1990s.

Vaccination authorities are also facing protests from skeptical parents against coronavirus vaccination of children aged 12 to 15 years, who were recently added as eligible recipients.

Earlier this month, Kyoto City Hall was flooded with telephone calls accusing authorities of inoculating children and attempting murder.

Dr. Shigeru Omi, the government’s chief adviser to COVID-19, said that even if vaccinations increase significantly in the coming months, a wave of infections could occur unless young people are barely vaccinated. Said there is.

“Vaccines are very effective, but not 100%. I think it will take some time before we can control the infection,” Omi said. “I have to wait for a while before dropping the guards.”

Kentaro Komiya of The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

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