COVID-19 vaccinations for the elderly are expected to be completed by July, the central government's target, in over 85% of all municipalities.
The central government announced Wednesday that these 1,490 municipalities, or 85.6% of 1,741 municipalities nationwide, will have vaccinated about 30 million elderly people 65 and over eligible for the inoculation. That accounts for 84.5% of the 36 million such people in the nation.
Of the 251 municipalities not expected to meet the target date, 185 said they would complete the vaccination in August, while 66 said in September or later.
The central government hopes to accelerate the vaccination process by supporting the securing of doctors and nurses.
"We will work to ensure that all people can be vaccinated as soon as possible," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office.
By prefecture, 17 of them, including Kyoto and Hyogo where a state of emergency has been declared, said that all their municipalities are expected to complete vaccinations by the end of July.
Of the other prefectures where the state of emergency is in effect, the expectations are 67.7% in Tokyo, 90.7% in Osaka, 92.6% in Aichi and 86.7% in Fukuoka.
The vaccination program for the elderly began on April 12. Suga announced on April 23 his plan to complete two doses of vaccination for those who wish to be vaccinated by the end of July. On May 7, he expressed his desire to achieve 1 million doses per day nationwide.
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