The health ministry plans to designate certain medical institutions in each prefecture to examine COVID-19 vaccine recipients who experience side effects, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The envisaged system will allow vaccine recipients to visit such institutions smoothly via their family doctors.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is aiming to prepare the system around March for when the priority vaccination of the elderly and others begins.
In clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured overseas, which will be available in Japan from the spring onward, muscle pain, headaches and fatigue are among the post-vaccination symptoms reported. The frequency of serious side effects, so far, has not been high, but because the vaccines are a new type that processes the genetic information of the virus, there is a possibility that unexpected side effects may occur.
The health ministry envisions that university hospitals, general hospitals and those with general medical departments that can provide multifaceted medical care and advanced testing will be designated as specialized medical institutions. Each prefectural government will make a list of the specified medical institutions and distribute it to local family doctors.
If a person who has been inoculated experiences side effects, they should first visit their family doctor or the medical institution where they received the vaccination. If necessary, the person will be referred to a specialized medical institution, and the receiving facility will set up a special office to handle the case.
A specialized office or call center will also be established in each prefecture to handle questions about side effects, such as swelling that remains for several days. The office or center will also field questions from those who have been inoculated over whether they need to go to the hospital.
The health ministry will subsidize all costs associated with designating specialized medical institutions and setting up consultation offices for the prefectural governments.
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