Mass vaccination centers run by the Self-Defense Forces in Tokyo and Osaka started handling up to 15,000 COVID-19 vaccine recipients from Monday.
People aged 65 and older living in Tokyo and the four prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Osaka were eligible to receive vaccinations at the centers from Monday.
From May 24 to 30, residents in Tokyo's 23 wards and Osaka City were among the first batch of recipients.
The second phase, from May 31 to June 6, was initially meant to be for elderly residents from across Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture, but as the Tokyo center had unreserved slots, it also started accepting elderly residents from Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures from Monday, a week earlier than planned.
When the centers opened on May 24, the number of recipients per day was limited to 5,000 in Tokyo and 2,500 in Osaka.
The caps have been gradually increased since then. About 15,000 people per day were able to receive shots from Monday.
About 67,300 people were vaccinated at the SDF centers in the first week. However, according to the Defense Ministry, 3,872 people canceled reservations on the day of scheduled vaccinations from May 24 to 30.
From Wednesday, the ministry decided to increase reservation slots by 5% per day, or 500 people, at the Tokyo site and by 1.5%, or 75 people, at the Osaka site.
Reservations for the period from June 7 to 13 started Monday. The Tokyo venue had received about 53,000 reservations by 5 p.m. Monday, about 76% of the total. Meanwhile, reservations for all of the 35,000 slots at the Osaka center were filled within two hours.
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