Japan will begin its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, starting with 40,000 medical workers, the head of Japan’s vaccination program, Taro Kono, said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The government officially approved Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, the first such approval in the country facing a third wave of infections.
“We will start our vaccination campaign tomorrow, with some 40,000 medical workers who have been raised as candidates” to become the first to receive the vaccine, Kono said.
The European Union approved the second shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to Japan, which is expected to arrive next week, he added. Japan will be the last member of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries to launch a vaccination campaign.
The government plans to vaccinate first medical workers, then people 65 and older, people with health problems and workers in nursing homes.
Japan, with a population of 126 million, has so far signed contracts to purchase 314 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca Plc, and Moderna Inc, enough for 157 million people.
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