The government plans to set up mass vaccination sites in downtown Tokyo and Osaka in May in order to speed up the pace of inoculations against the novel coronavirus in two of the nation's densest city centers. With the assistance of Self-Defense Forces medical and nursing personnel, the government aims to administer vaccines to 10,000 people a day.
Although the government's vaccination campaign to date has stipulated that people receive shots in their municipalities of residence, this guideline will be relaxed for the mass vaccination sites, which will be open to people who live elsewhere.
The government has said that it expects to secure enough vaccine by the end of June to provide two doses to all of the nation's 36 million elderly, a task which it hopes the mass vaccination sites will expedite for completion by the end of July.
In an appearance on Fuji TV on Sunday, the Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura indicated that inoculation of members of the general public who are under 64 years old would begin as early as July. "As long as we have enough supplies, vaccination [of the public] could be conducted in parallel to [the elderly]," he said.
Tamura added: "The amount of vaccine coming in is very important; the prime minister hopes to make the vaccine available to the general public as soon as possible."
Appearing on NHK later in the day, Tamura said that the decision to end the third state of emergency would be made based on whether "there has been a steady downward trend in the flow of people and the number of new infections."
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