The distribution of vaccines to older people in Japan to protect them against the novel coronavirus, expected to start in April, will be in proportion to the population in each prefecture rather than the number of infections, a state minister said Tuesday.
"Initially, we will distribute (vaccine doses) based on the population" and later in accordance with progress in inoculations, Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the vaccine rollout, said on a TV program.
Asked about the possibility that major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, which have higher numbers of new infections each day, would be given priority in receiving vaccine doses for the elderly, Kono said, "At present, I'm not giving much consideration" to the infection situation.