Local governments are being offered a degree of flexibility in who they can prioritize for inoculations — on condition they promise to finish giving shots to people 65 and older by the end of July — Japan's minister in charge of the vaccine rollout has said.
At the moment, local governments across the country are scrambling to vaccinate all their older residents by the end of July — a target imposed on them by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Although older residents will still be prioritized for the time being, municipalities are being given the freedom to decide how to set aside shots for other demographics and professions such as schoolteachers, Taro Kono, the minister in charge of vaccines, said on his own web program Saturday.