Japan expects to provide enough vaccine for 80% of the people aged 12 or older in the nation to be inoculated with a second dose by early October, according to a government announcement.
Taro Kono, the minister in charge of COVID-19 vaccinations, said Wednesday that the government would supply 35.1 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to prefectural governments between September and Oct. 10.
It will allocate 11.7 million doses every two weeks, in keeping with the pace of vaccinations by prefectural governments. This is the same as the amount for August.
Japan plans to procure about 190 million doses from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. by the end of November, and has so far confirmed enough to supply 170 million doses.
The central government has so far decided the amount of vaccine to be distributed to each municipality. From September on, however, vaccines will be sent to prefectural governments, which will in turn distribute them according to the pace of inoculations by their municipalities.
As a result of the central government's failure to present a supply plan, municipalities have either canceled or stopped taking reservations for vaccinations.
"We want to deliver enough to achieve an 80% vaccination rate," Kono said.
As for vaccinations at workplaces and universities, Kono said the government expects to start supplying vaccine in August to all inoculation sites from which applications have already been received. A shortage of Moderna Inc.'s vaccine caused supply to be suspended for more than 2,000 out of 5,000 sites.
According to Kono, the number of daily vaccinations reached about 1.58 million -- about 1.38 million through local governments and 200,000 in workplaces -- on July 6, believed to be the highest level so far. Even so, cancellations and other issues are hindering stable daily vaccinations.
The government aims to maintain a level of about 1.2 million vaccinations per day through shots administered by municipalities.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga emphasized the benefits of vaccination at a Cabinet meeting on COVID-19 control on Wednesday.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry reported at the meeting that the number of new infections per 100,000 people was 0.9 among elderly people aged 65 or older who had received two vaccine doses. This was compared with 13 among elderly people who had not been vaccinated.
"There is quantitative data that vaccination reduces infection," Suga said. "There are no signs of a sharp increase in the number of seriously ill people along with the increase in new infections."
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