Tokyo has launched a mass inoculation drive for COVID-19 booster shots at a temporary center as Japan tries to speed up delayed third jabs to counter surging infections.
Japan began administering booster shots to medical workers in December, but has only provided such inoculations to 2.7% of the population after delaying a decision to cut the interval between the first two coronavirus shots and a booster to six months from the initial eight.
Demand for the shots is intense: Online reservations that started on Jan. 28 resulted in all slots for the center’s first week — for about 4,300 doses — being filled within nine minutes. The center is providing Spikevax, the vaccine made by Moderna, Inc.
On a smaller scale, people 65 and older can get booster shots elsewhere.
The center run by the Self-Defense Forces in downtown Tokyo reopened Jan. 31 after closing down in late November. It will be vaccinating about 720 people aged 18 or older per day in the first week, ramping up to more than 2,000 a day from Feb. 7. Another SDF-run center will begin booster shots in Osaka.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Tokyo vaccination center on Jan. 31 and said most cities are expected to finish providing booster shots for Japanese over 65 by the end of February. (AP)
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