Amid shortages of COVID-19 vaccine for medical workers, a growing number of Japanese municipalities are inoculating such personnel with vaccine that had been earmarked for the elderly.
Although the central government gave top priority to vaccinating medical workers, sufficient amounts of vaccine for that purpose had not yet been delivered even when vaccinations of the elderly started on Monday.
Local governments have therefore diverted vaccine "for the elderly" to prevent doctors and other medical workers from becoming infected, which would stall the vaccination of the elderly and damage the overall functioning of local medical services.
In Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, some of the vaccine for about 500 elderly people was used to inoculate 45 doctors and nurses in Suzu General Hospital on Monday, the day before vaccinations of the elderly began at the hospital.
Such a measure was taken because the vaccines for medical workers had not arrived by that day.
"From the viewpoint of infection prevention, we gave priority to the doctors and nurses in charge of the vaccinations," said a city official.
Of the two boxes of vaccines for about 1,000 elderly people that are scheduled to arrive this week, the Hitachi city government in Ibaraki Prefecture is planning to divert vaccines for about 300 people to medical workers.
Some of the medical workers involved in the vaccination process have not yet completed their own vaccinations.
"If doctors and other [medical workers] become infected, vaccination of the elderly will not proceed," a city official said.
In Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, general practitioners and others who have not been vaccinated will be inoculated using vaccines for the elderly on April 19 or later. In Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, vaccinations at a geriatric healthcare facility will begin on April 21 and surplus vaccines will be used for medical workers. The Wako city government in Saitama Prefecture also temporarily considered the diversion of vaccines.
Reasons including insufficient amounts of vaccine allocated for medical workers are behind the diversion, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and other sources. As of Tuesday, only about 600,000 of about 4.7 million medical workers eligible for vaccination, or 13%, had received two doses of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the total amount of vaccine imported by March 29 was enough for about 2.35 million people. However, in the week from March 29, the health ministry delivered only enough doses for about 1.26 million people, designated for medical workers. From the following week, which began on April 5, the municipality began receiving the doses for the elderly.
As a result, there was a situation in which the vaccines for the elderly arrived in municipalities where the vaccination of medical workers had not yet been completed. The health ministry has allowed municipalities to divert the vaccines since Monday.
Regarding vaccinations for the elderly, there have been cases in which local governments discard vaccines in the case of cancelled appointments because a vial of vaccine for five people needs to be used up within six hours.
Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, which disposed of one person's dose on Tuesday, decided on the following day that any surplus generated by cancellations would be given to medical workers at mass vaccination sites.
Josai University Prof. Tomotoshi Iseki said, "With the fourth wave potentially in full swing, it's only natural to give priority to medical workers."
Iseki, who specializes in regional medical care, added, "To avoid confusion among local governments, the central government should once again make it known that [vaccination of] medical workers should be prioritized."
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