TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday (Dec. 28) the government will consider providing COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for all people in the country as much as possible in a report by Kyodo News.
Kishida said in an interview that the country’s anti-virus measures will be made fully operational, so people can feel safe.
Japan has started giving third shots to health care workers since the beginning of December, and senior citizens will follow from February next year, and then the general people later.
The rate of those finishing two shots reached 77% at the end of December.
Infection cases with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have not shown a surge in Japan, but community infection cases have been confirmed in some areas such as Osaka and Tokyo.
The government has offered free PCR and antigen testing in such areas and barred new entries by foreigners from abroad since November.
“Besides 31 million health care workers and elderly people, we’d like to consider bringing (the schedule for third shots) forward as much as possible,” Kishida said. (Xinhua) – bny
