TOKYO (AP) – Japan launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign on Wednesday, months after other major economies began firing shots and amid the question of whether the ride would reach people fast enough to save a Summer Olympics already delayed by the pandemic.
Despite a recent surge in infections, Japan has largely avoided the kind of disaster that has hit the economies, social networks, and health care systems of other wealthy countries. But the fate of the Olympics and the billions of dollars at stake make the Japanese vaccination campaign crucial. Japanese officials are also well aware that rival China, which manages to hit back the virus, will host the Winter Olympics next year, increasing the desire to have the Games take place in Tokyo.
Japan’s rollout lagged other places because the vaccine maker asked Pfizer to conduct clinical trials on Japanese, in addition to tests already conducted in six other countries – as part of an effort to address concerns in a country with low vaccine confidence.
That long-standing reluctance to take vaccines – mostly because of the fear of rare side effects – and concerns about shortages of imported vaccines are now hanging over the rollout, which will inject medical workers first, then the elderly and the frail, and then, possibly in the late spring or early summer, the rest of the population.
Medical workers say vaccinations will help protect them and their families, and business leaders hope the drive will bring economic activity back to normal. But the late rollout will make it impossible to achieve so-called herd immunity in the country of 127 million people before the Olympics begin in July, experts say.
That will leave officials struggling to quell widespread caution – and even outright opposition – among civilians against hosting the Games. About 80% of those surveyed in recent media surveys are in favor of canceling or further postponing the Olympics.
Despite this, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and others in his administration are continuing Olympic plans, viewing the Games as “evidence of human victory against the pandemic.”
Japan has not experienced the massive outbreaks that have ravaged the United States and many European countries, but a spike in the cases in December and January sparked concern and led to a partial state of emergency, including requests for restaurants and bars to close early. Suga saw his support drop below 40% from about 70% when he took office in September, with many saying he was too slow to impose restrictions and that they were too lax.
The country now sees an average of about 1 infection per 100,000 people – compared to 24.5 in the United States or 18 in the United Kingdom. In total, Japan has recorded about 420,000 cases and 7,000 deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
In a room full of journalists on Wednesday, Dr. Kazuhiro Araki, president of the Tokyo Medical Center, up his sleeve and received an injection, one of the first Japanese to do so.
“It didn’t hurt at all, and I feel very relieved,” he told reporters while being monitored for allergic reactions. “We now have better protection and I hope we feel more comfortable giving medical treatment.”
About 40,000 doctors and nurses deemed vulnerable to the virus as they treat COVID-19 patients are among the first group scheduled to be vaccinated with injections developed by Pfizer and its Germany-based partner BioNTech – after it vaccine was approved by the Japanese regulator on Sunday. It requires two doses, although some protection starts after the first shot.
Japan’s late approval of the vaccine means it is lagging behind many other countries. Britain started vaccinations on December 8 and has given at least one injection to more than 15 million people, while the United States started its campaign on December 14 and about 40 million people received injections. Vaccines were rolled out in many countries of the European Union in late December and campaigns there were criticized for being slower.
But Japan’s vaccination minister, Taro Kono, defended the delay as necessary to build trust in a country where distrust of vaccines has been around for decades. Many people have a vague concern about vaccines, partly because their side effects have often been played out by the media here.
“I think it is more important for the Japanese government to show the Japanese people that we have done everything possible to prove the efficacy and safety of the vaccine to encourage the Japanese people to take the vaccine,” Kono said. . “So at the end of the day we may have started slower, but we think it will be more effective.
Half of the recipients of the first shots keep a daily record of their condition for seven weeks; that data will be used in a health study designed to inform people concerned about the side effects. Studies in tens of thousands of people of the Pfizer vaccine – and others currently being administered in other countries – have found no serious side effects.
“We want to make an effort to get people vaccinated with peace of mind,” Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters.
Japan’s COVID-19 vaccine development is still in its early stages, so the country, like many others, has to rely on imported shots – raising concerns about supply issues elsewhere as producers struggle to keep up with demand to hold. Suga recognized on Wednesday the importance of strengthening vaccine development and manufacturing capacity as “important crisis management” and pledged to provide more support.
Stocks will help determine the progress of the vaccination program in Japan, Kono said.
The first batch of Pfizer vaccines that arrived Friday is enough to cover the first group of medical workers. A second batch will be delivered next week.
To get the most out of each vial, Japanese officials are also struggling to get specialized syringes that can draw six doses per vial instead of five with standard Japanese-made syringes.
After primary care, 3.7 million additional health workers will be vaccinated from March, followed by approximately 36 million people 65 and older from April. People with underlying health problems, as well as caregivers in nursing homes and other facilities, will be next before the general population’s turn.
Some critics have noted that the urge to vaccinate – which requires medical workers to be carried out – adds to their burden, as Japanese hospitals are already under pressure from the daily treatment of COVID-19 patients. There is an added concern that hospitals will not have extra capacity to accommodate the large number of foreign visitors that the Olympics bring.