Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday announced that the rollout of vaccine shots targeting the omicron variant — currently the dominant version of the coronavirus — will begin later this month.
Though still pending final regulatory approval, the government is importing 30 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the initial rollout of omicron boosters, which will be shipped to municipalities across the nation starting the week of Sept. 19. The “bivalent” vaccine, which targets both the original virus first detected in Wuhan, China, and the BA.1 subvariant of the omicron variant, will replace the current jabs that target the original virus only.
While the current vaccines are effective at preventing serious illness and death, it is hoped the vaccination drive with the new shots will prevent people from getting infected or sick altogether.