Japan shortens interval for COVID-19 booster shots
14:50 JST, December 18, 2021
Medical workers and senior citizens will be offered COVID-19 booster shots six to seven months after their second shot as part of efforts to mitigate the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant.
Under current rules, boosters are being offered to certain groups eight months after the second dose. The policy, which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Friday, will shorten the interval for about 31 million people, including medical workers and senior citizens.
Booster shots will be offered after six months to medical workers, hospital inpatients, residents of elderly facilities, and daycare facility users and staff — comprising about 14.73 million people. All other senior citizens — comprising about 16.72 million — will be offered boosters after seven months from February.
Local governments were notified of the policy on Friday.
The government wants municipalities to make effective use of the about 8.9 million doses they have in stock. It will also deliver an additional 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to help expedite the booster campaign.
On Friday, Kishida indicated U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.’s molnupiravir oral coronavirus treatment will be made available to medical institutions by the end of this year if approved by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry’s expert panel, which is expected to make a decision on Dec. 24.
“We have already secured 1.6 million doses,” he said.
The prime minister also revealed that a basic agreement was reached on the supply of 2 million doses of a drug developed by Pfizer Inc. in a telephone conversation with the U.S. pharmaceutical giant’s Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla on Friday.
Kishida said the government is preparing to implement free virus testing nationwide for people who cannot be vaccinated due to health factors or other reasons. The government is aiming for the service to be launched by the end of this year and the tests will not require reservations.
The prime minister said he would “do his utmost to ensure that the measures do not strain the medical system.”
"Society" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
JICA Employee Suspected of Leaking Info on ODA Project in Manila; Bidding for Railway Renovation May Have Been Impacted
-
‘Doraemon’ Voice Actress Nobuyo Oyama Dies at 90; Also Voiced Katsuo in Anime ‘Sazae-san’ (UPDATE 1)
-
Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo Wins Nobel Peace Prize; Hibakusha Group Campaigns against Nuclear Weapons (UPDATE 3)
-
Typhoon Kong-rey to Reach South of Japan’s Okinawa on Thursday; JWA Urges High Alert for Strong Winds, Heavy Rain
-
Typhoon Trami Forms East of Philippines, Moving Westward
JN ACCESS RANKING
- Asukayama Monorail in Tokyo: Free to Ride!
- Japan Trying to Draw Digital Nomads, Who Are Seen as Beneficial to Economy, Society
- JICA Employee Suspected of Leaking Info on ODA Project in Manila; Bidding for Railway Renovation May Have Been Impacted
- G20 Sees Soft Landing for Global Economy; Leaders Pledge to Resist Protectionism as Trump Calls for Imported Goods Flat Tariff
- Japanese Automakers Team Up on Software Development; Aim to Compete with U.S., China in SDV Market