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TOKYO: The Japanese government may offer Covid-19 vaccines free of charge to all residents so that the number of future deaths and those who develop severe symptoms and need hospitalization can be mitigated, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
According to sources, due to the highly contagious nature of Covid-19 and its potential to generate patients with extremely severe symptoms, the government wants as many people as possible to be vaccinated, the Xinhua news agency reported.
In a meeting called last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the government aims to have secured enough Covid-19 vaccines for all citizens of the country by the first half of 2021, as part of its new measures and protocols for fight Covid-19 here.
The vaccines will be purchased with reserve funds from the budget for the current fiscal year through March 2021, the government said.
Earlier this month, the Japanese government said it had agreed with British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Plc. to receive 120 million doses of a possible coronavirus vaccine that is being developed with the University of Oxford.
Similarly, Japan has agreed with Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE to receive 120 million doses of its potential vaccine, provided its development is successful.
At the meeting on new measures to combat the virus, it was also decided, in a preventive measure to address the possibility of an influenza epidemic hitting in winter along with a possible second wave of the virus, that the testing capacity for Covid-19 it would be significantly increased.
One focus of the government’s expanded testing protocol would be on those working in the healthcare system, as increasing infections have been noted in healthcare providers, such as those working in nursing homes.
Along with those of healthcare workers, the elderly with underlying symptoms may also be prioritized to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, depending on their municipalities, sources close to the matter said.
Those who test positive for the virus, meanwhile, but show no or only mild symptoms, will be asked to isolate themselves at home or in designated facilities per revised government guidelines, so those with more severe symptoms may have priority when it comes to allocating hospital beds and medical staff resources.
If Japan is hit by a double whammy from an influenza outbreak and a second wave of novel coronavirus infections over the winter, the government wants to make sure there are enough medical facilities available and that the system doesn’t kink.
Numerous countries, some in collaboration with each other, have been swiftly trying to develop Covid-19 vaccine candidates and some of them are now in late and final clinical trials or, in some cases, awaiting emergency approval from regulators.Named
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