Japan Opens COVID-19 Vaccination Centers In Workplaces And Universities Starting June 21

COVID-19 vaccine illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Peru)

JAKARTA - Japan will start COVID-19 vaccination in workplaces and universities on June 21, to accelerate the vaccination program.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a press conference on Tuesday, June 1 that the start date could be moved forward if the government believes there are prospects for completing ongoing vaccinations for those aged 65 years or over.

"The expansion of the number of vaccination sites is intended to reduce the burden on local communities and accelerate the rate of inoculation," said Kato, as reported by Kyodonews. The COVID-19 vaccine that will be used is the Moderna vaccine.

The plan was announced a day after two state-owned mass inoculation centers managed by the Japan Self-Defense Forces in Tokyo and Osaka, became fully operational to meet the maximum targets of 10,000 and 5,000 injections per day, respectively.

"Companies and universities will decide who to inject. Families of eligible employees can also receive the vaccine, as well as the elderly and those who deserve priority," Kato said.

"Companies and universities will be responsible for dealing with doctors and nurses who provide vaccinations," Kato continued. The lack of medical personnel is one of the causes of the slow pace of the COVID-19 vaccination program in Japan since its launch in February.

To note, since Japan's vaccination program was launched in February for health workers, then expanded to the elderly in April, only about 7 percent of Japan's 126 million population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Separately, To support the vaccination program, the Japanese Government early Tuesday set out a long-term national strategy on vaccine development, to facilitate research and domestic production to deal with the coronavirus and other pandemics.

"From a crisis management point of view, it is very important to establish a system that will enable the development, production, and delivery of domestically developed vaccines," said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.