The Defense Ministry on Monday started accepting reservations for COVID-19 vaccinations for people 65 or older at two large venues: one in Tokyo and the other in Osaka.
The Self-Defense Forces will conduct the inoculation processes at both venues.
Under the ministry plan, up to about 15,000 people -- elderly people living in Tokyo or Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures -- will receive their first vaccinations per day at both venues. The two venues are the Otemachi Godo Chosha Sangokan joint government building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, and the Osaka International Convention Center in Kita Ward, Osaka.
Reservations can be made on a special site that can be accessed from the ministry's website, or via the Line free messaging application for smartphones. The ministry has released QR codes for the venues that directly connect applicants to the special site.
Only those who live in Tokyo's 23 wards or in the city of Osaka and have received a reservation ticket from their municipal government can make reservations from Monday to next Sunday.
Those who have made a reservation will receive their first vaccine shot between May 24 and 30. Later on, reservation eligibility will be extended step by step to more people, such as those living in all areas of Tokyo.
When making a reservation, applicants need to input three things: the reservation number on the vaccination reservation card sent from the local government; the municipality code; and date of birth.
Applicants can select their preferred vaccination time from the timetable, which is divided into 30-minute segments. They are also allowed to cancel their vaccination after making a reservation.
"Every applicant will be connected to the special site, so please don't rush when accessing the site," a senior official of the ministry said.
Vaccine recipients will be notified of the time and the date for their second injections at the inoculation venue.
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