Japan Begins COVID-19 Vaccination Program, Starts For 40 Thousand Medical Workers In Tokyo

Illustration of vaccine injection. (Steven Cornfield / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Japanese authorities started a COVID-19 vaccination program on Wednesday, February 17 local time. Japan will start their vaccination program using the Pfizer vaccine.

Cited from Reuters, this vaccination program will begin with the injection of hospital health workers in Tokyo. A total of 40 thousand health workers will participate in this initial vaccination phase.

Overall, the first phase of vaccination targets 3.7 million medical personnel and 36 million elderly people over 65 years old with an estimated implementation time of about one year.

The Japanese government targets to be able to vaccinate 126 million people as a priority for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Government.

"This is the first major step towards ending the coronavirus (pandemic)", Deputy Health Minister Hiroshi Yamamoto told reporters at the hospital after the first vaccine was administered.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo Medical Center plans to inject vaccines for 60 people every day starting tomorrow, followed by monitoring of those who have received the vaccine.

"I didn't really feel anything after the injection. But I feel relieved, I'm glad it didn't hurt", said Hospital Director Kazuhiro Araki, saying he wanted to set an example by receiving the first vaccine.

Japan is known to have signed a contract to procure around 314 million doses of vaccine, a combination of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna, which is sufficient for 157 million people.