TOKYO - State-run mass COVID-19 vaccination centers opened Monday in Tokyo and Osaka, as Japan seeks to accelerate its inoculation program that has lagged far behind other developed countries with just two months until the Summer Olympics.
The centers, staffed by Self-Defense Forces doctors and nurses, will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for three months, including weekends and national holidays. They will use the two-dose vaccine developed by U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna Inc., which was approved by the government on Friday.
Japan hopes the venues, aiming to inoculate up to 10,000 people a day in Tokyo and 5,000 in Osaka, will help meet its target to complete vaccinations by the end of July of people aged 65 or older, along with those turning 65 in the current fiscal year.
The two populous areas, hit by a resurgence of infections, have been under a state of emergency since late April along with several other prefectures.
While new coronavirus cases reported in Osaka totaled 216 on Monday, down from 382 a week earlier, hospitals continued to be under strain.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura will formally decide Tuesday to ask the central government to extend the emergency beyond its end date of May 31, sources said, while Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido also suggested at a press conference that an extension is necessary.
Infections in Tokyo, where the Olympics are set to begin July 23, stood at 340, down from 419 a week earlier.
Elderly people living in the capital and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa as well as in Osaka and nearby Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures are eligible for inoculations at the state-run centers, provided they have not already received a vaccine shot elsewhere.
But to avoid the reservation system becoming overwhelmed, the first week of vaccinations at the centers is restricted to residents of Tokyo's 23 wards and the city of Osaka.
At a government building in the Otemachi business district in Tokyo, 30 to 40 elderly people began gathering from around 7:30 a.m. for vaccinations.
"It did not hurt and was over quickly," said a 66-year-old woman from Suginami Ward in Tokyo. She said she decided to get a shot at the mass venue because she did not want to wait until her initially reserved first shot scheduled for late June.
Visiting the venue in the afternoon, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he was "relieved" to see the operation running smoothly and vowed to continue ramping up Japan's vaccine rollout.
"It is the government's responsibility to ensure every Japanese person is inoculated as soon as possible and to protect their lives and health," he told reporters.
At the Osaka International Convention Center, 69-year-old Takashi Deguchi said he chose to be inoculated after becoming tired of being tense in his daily life.
