
National Feb 24, 2021
One shot or two? Japan weighs question as vaccine rollout stalls amid shortages
Health minister Norihisa Tamura says Japan will stick to the standard two-dose schedule, but some in the LDP are calling for a change of course.
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Health minister Norihisa Tamura says Japan will stick to the standard two-dose schedule, but some in the LDP are calling for a change of course.
More than two months after the U.K. and the U.S., Japan finally embarked on an unprecedented coronavirus vaccination blitz Wednesday.
Up to 20,000 front-line medical staffers at state-run hospitals are set to be the first to receive the vaccines, followed by 3.7 million other health care workers.
The government has begun to set out its inoculation schedule, but there are concerns over delivery hiccups.
Despite a relatively low number of cases, prefectures currently under a state of emergency are seeing about 70% of their hospital beds for virus patients occupied.
While daily figures for new infections appear to have been decreasing overall, the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients set a record Monday, according to health ministry data.
The nation is preparing to vaccinate, starting with medical workers and older people, based on hopes that Pfizer's vaccine will be approved here by mid-February.
Polls have shown recently that nearly 70% of Japanese are willing to get a coronavirus vaccine. But still, skepticism against vaccines is deeply rooted in the country.
With alerts limited to infectious contact, and no obligation to flag positive status, high volumes of messages were never expected, though the prefecture is working on enhancements.
The world's fastest supercomputer, Fugaku is tasked with challenges such as modeling climate change and helping to manage carbon emissions.