Vaccination of health workers will begin in Japan, with seniors scheduled for April

The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. 40,000 essential workers at 100 medical centers will begin administration on Wednesday, Taro Kono, the cabinet minister in charge of vaccines, said on Tuesday.

The same workers will receive their second dose from March 10.

Kono said it is possible that other medical workers (those who do not fall into the initial category) could receive their first dose before March 10 once the second doses for essential workers are secured.

Vaccination of the elderly will begin on April 1 at the earliest, starting after medical workers have been shot, Kono said, adding that municipal governments have been encouraged not to spend more than two months and three weeks to complete this next phase of the process.

Vaccination of the rest of the population will officially begin after this, although it is possible that the ongoing vaccinations of one priority group may overlap with the next.

Kono said the separate vaccines from Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca PLC are pending approval, although their introduction could speed up the process.

Last week, around 64,350 vials of the Pfizer vaccine arrived on a charter flight from the European Union. Kono declined to specify when the second flight will come carrying extra bottles, but said the central government will ensure that there are enough vaccines to move forward smoothly in the process.

The vaccination process in the United States has been hampered from the beginning by significant delays and distrust of public officials. Kono said Japan will surely run into its own problems as it appears to end the virus, but the government is preparing to respond flexibly and quickly to those problems.

Regarding young people, who are more likely to be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, Kono said it is crucial that they receive the shot.

“It is very important that young people get the vaccine to prevent the virus from spreading further,” he said.

With the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games scheduled for the end of July, it remains a major concern whether the spread of the virus will be reduced enough by then.