At least seven prefectures will set up their own large-scale COVID-19 vaccination sites, capable of administering up to 2,000 doses per day, from late May or later, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned through inquiries to all 47 prefectures from Tuesday to Thursday.
An additional 27 prefectures are considering the idea in order to accelerate the vaccination program.
The prefectural governments are working to secure medical workers for the vaccination sites, on the presumption that they will use vaccines manufactured by U.S. biotechnology company Moderna Inc., which the central government is expected to approve for use soon.
The central government will open large-scale vaccination sites in Tokyo and Osaka on May 24 and will administer Moderna vaccines at a rate of up to 10,000 doses per day in Tokyo and 5,000 per day in Osaka. The central government also indicates that it will distribute the Moderna vaccines to prefectures that operate their own large-scale vaccination sites.
The seven prefectures that said they are planning to set up such sites are Aichi, Gunma, Kochi, Mie, Osaka, Tokushima and Saitama.
Aichi, the earliest among the seven prefectures, plans to open two sites on May 24 and start administering 1,000 to 2,000 doses per day. Saitama will start its site from June 1 with about 700 doses per day. Gunma plans to start from early June with 1,000 doses per day. Kochi, Mie, Osaka and Tokushima are still making arrangements to secure medical personnel.
Situations vary among the 27 prefectures that said they were "considering" setting up such sites. The Iwate prefectural government said, "We are finalizing the plan in a direction to set it up," while the Hiroshima prefectural government said, "We are conducting evaluations on whether we can set up such sites by supporting municipalities." Hokkaido and Fukuoka had requested the central government to set up and directly manage such sites, saying they were struggling to secure medical personnel.
The remaining 13 prefectures responded that they had no plans for such vaccination sites.
Separately, some city governments are setting up their own large-scale vaccination sites. The Kofu city government announced Thursday it will use U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc.'s vaccine and open such a site on June 19 using a facility managed by Yamanashi Prefecture. The Kobe city government also announced that it will use the Pfizer vaccine for large-scale vaccinations. The Yokohama and Osaka city governments are also planning to open such sites.
In order to complete two doses of vaccination for the elderly population by the end of July, the central government aims to administer 1 million doses per day nationwide. Administrative and regulatory reform minister Taro Kono, who is in charge of the national vaccine rollout, exchanged opinions with the National Governors' Association on Thursday. Regarding the large-scale vaccination sites that prefectural governments are considering setting up, Kono said he intends to provide "maximum support."
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