The most effective way to vaccinate the working generations against COVID-19 is through inoculations at workplaces, but the amount of vaccine sought by companies has far exceeded the available supply, forcing the government to stop accepting new applications.
It was a painful miscalculation, as there is no prospect of resuming the acceptance of applications.
"We're carefully examining the amount of vaccine that can be delivered per day. We hope to announce the situation by the end of this week," Taro Kono, the minister responsible for Japan's vaccination drive, told reporters Monday after inspecting two Tokyo sites where shots were administered to company employees.
Kono hopes to present countermeasures as soon as possible, to clear up the confusion caused by the rush of applications.
On June 23, the government decided to temporarily stop accepting new applications for corporate vaccination drives as of 5 p.m. on June 25, as it had already reached the maximum amount of vaccine, developed by U.S. biotech firm Moderna, Inc., that it had to distribute. The number of doses to be administered at workplaces is now capped at 33 million.
However, applications for 36.42 million doses were received for 5,202 vaccination sites by 5 p.m. on June 25. If all the applications are approved, there will be a shortage of more than 3 million doses. The government is scrutinizing applications, including those that had already been approved, to keep the number of doses to be administered at a maximum of 33 million.
A government source said applications made in urban areas account for 75% of the total. The government will therefore also make efforts to prevent regional disparities.
The abrupt suspension has led to confusion among those involved in inoculations. Tokyo-based Sakura Life Group, a medical corporation that operates hospitals and other facilities mainly in the Kanto region, had just launched an initiative on June 18 to support vaccinations at small and midsize companies.
The service was envisioned to consolidate small and midsize firms into units of "at least 1,000 employees," a requirement for the corporate vaccination drive, and to secure nurses and other personnel within the group to administer shots. After the government announced the suspension, the group reportedly informed about 30 companies that had made inquiries that the service was being canceled.
A group official said: "The suspension was unexpected. The meaning of the workplace vaccination program is to promote the inoculation of young people as quickly as possible. If it is delayed, the value of the program will diminish."
Initially, the government gave top priority to the vaccination of the elderly by municipalities and regarded vaccinations at workplaces as supplementary.
A senior official of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry regretted the lack of foresight, saying, "We should have established a maximum number of applications and a deadline from the beginning."
Companies that applied for inoculations were also guilty of careless actions.
Some applied for far more shots than their number of employees, while others submitted applications before securing the doctors needed to administer vaccines. There was even a case in which vaccines were delivered as requested, but the company said it did not need so many.
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