28 local Japanese governments considering mass vaccination sites

While in places like the US you can just walk into a CVS or Walmart and get one.

Whats to consider ?

Looking forward to pictures of mock vaccinations at those sites. Followed up by opening ceremonies.

Osaka city is aiming to vaccinate around 3,500 people per day, the highest target among the 28 local governments.

3500 per day is not a "mass vaccination site". It will take 570 days to give a million people two shots. There are 19 million people in the Osaka metropolitan area.

Osaka city is aiming to vaccinate around 3,500 people per day, the highest target among the 28 local governments.

Osaka city has a population of 2.7 million people.

@zoroto

By when, 2025?

At a rate of 3,500 people per day, Osaka will take a little over 2 years...

...unless this is suppose to mean 3500 shots per day (and it probably does), which means that with 2 shots per person, that would be 4 years.

So you are correct sir, 2025 would be accurate!

However, a number of local governments face challenges in securing enough doctors and nurses to administer the shots due to limited medical resources, among other reasons. 

Hospitals in many places are already overflowing with Covid cases.

Not to mention, there is constant regular medical care for the general public regardless of Covid.

And yet, thousands of doctors nationwide will be needed, day-in and day-out for months (years?), to not do their regular job as doctors, nor care for the Covid patients, but instead drop everything to inject people.

Oh, not to mention, lots of docs will not be able to do any of this so that they can be available on retainer for several weeks in order to provide any necessary care on demand for the 100,000 foreign Olympic athletes and staff.

Ridiculous.

Yes, the local governments should do a two month study on whether or not to open mass vaccination sites. Then after preparing, the sites can open a month after the studies are finished. The sites should be able to handle a hundred people a day. Of course all this depends on whether there will be enough people legally able to administer the vaccines. The central government is carefully studying this problem.

Still with the “considering”? The rest of the civilized world is moving on with their lives.

It’s a bit late isn’t it. promises words meetings lies - planning coordination action. How do they manage to get the taxes on time ?

What is there to consider? Just do it!

28 local Japanese governments considering mass vaccination sites

And nobody shows up.

They were not "considering" these actions months ago because...?

You'd have to think that development and release of the vaccines came as a huge surprise to these people. What have they been doing all of this time?

The more people you vaccinate the less the virus will spread. As everyone has said, It's not something that needs 'consideration' at this point.

You know the only thing they are 'considering' is how to siphon off or save tax money for themselves for short term gain.

Osaka city is aiming to vaccinate around 3,500 people per day, the highest target among the 28 local governments.

Key word "aiming", reality, probably less than 10% of that.

Last week Sunday here in Okinawa, there was a vaccination "event" in one city, they vaccinated 20 people, but out of those 20 people, they missed with 5, and only gave them saline injections and not the vaccination.

They realized their mistake when they finished, after something like 5 hours, there were 5 unused "covid" syringes left over!

Another city had to throw out vaccines, because some idiot left the refrigerator open, and another had to do the same because of some other screw up.

If the medical people cant get it right, and I typically give them the benefit of the doubt as they are on the front lines of this pandemic, it's going to take years to get everyone vaccinated here!

Oh, and one "sogo" hospital had 77 nurses quit, because of overwork, lack of proper compensation, and a long list of other reasons, all related to the hospital having COVID patients.

I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg throughout Japan!

CONSIDERING??

What's the rush guys?

It would really good if information was supplied in languages other than Japanese.

My local municipality offered free vaccinations, but by the time I was able to get the information translated all the places had been taken.

And there's not much help from any other source; I can't even get the Australian Consulate in Osaka to respond to my emails for information regarding these vaccination sites.

Daily dose of comedy. Are you serious Japan?

Too bad too late for the People of Japan, The USA is open and has turned the corner. No masks and social distancing for fully vaccinated. Can go shopping, out to restaurants and movie theaters. You can hug and hold each other. What a great feeling. The Olympics would be so much better if the Japanese would of started back in January like the rest of the civilized world did. Will Japan become another India? time will only tell, but heading there at warp speed. Too bad they do not ask the US Military with all the bases and a highly trained medical staff that have vaccinated most of its people including spouses of japanese decent married to Americans. They could fly in OSPREY's with medical crews and get to hard to get areas. I am sure President Biden would give all the help that is asked for.

These "mass sites" they are "considering" are on top and extra to the other sites already arranged.

Though quite shocking that this far down the road, their vaccination plans are still ...well, plans.

LDP dithering and ubiquitous government incompetence have all but ensured a "Ghost Olympics" as "Covidzilla" stomps through an unvaccinated populace. Only now are the usual suspects starting to pull their heads out, but it's unlikely there will be enough time to head the virus off at the pass. Another Japanese-style tragedy looms.

Face facts. We will not receive the vaccination for at least another year. The country will lurch from these semi state of emergency situations which will do far more damage to the country and economy, and all the while the LDP will be considering new ideas which won't work and the case counts and deaths will keep rising. Prove me wrong Japan!

While in places like the US you can just walk into a CVS or Walmart and get one.

Just not enough licensed vaccine injectors. Slow but they all will get a shot sooner or later before fall.

I'm glad the local governments are finally waking up to the fact that the national government has bungled this and is totally distracted by the Olympics. They're just useless for any leadership at the moment, they only do the same thing they've been doing since the pandemic started- SoE open and closures, and beware the 3Cs.

As everyone has pointed out, the municipalities should have figured this out starting in January. Not to mention they shouldn't be considering anything, and should just be doing things.

But I'll take whatever little progress I can!

While poor countries are still waiting for the vaccine supplies, Japan have them stockpiled on their freezers and cant figure out how to put it on peoples shoulders. Stop overthinking Japan! It's not rocket science.

Japan's vaccination program lags behind other developed countries.

Fact check - have to do it, as JT keep printing this stuff month after month - It is currently 86th, just above Zimbabawe, but lagging Cuba. Congratulations to those two countries for doing as well as they are by the way, given all the challenges they face. So while Japan is in fact speeding up (it was 106th a week ago), and thus moving up the rankings, as the world's supposedly third economy, with all the resources and infrastructure at its disposal, never mind supposed R&D capacity this is disgraceful.

Some of the countries doing way better include Laos, Peru, Indonesia, Colombia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Albania, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Morocco, Barbados, Lithuania, Serbia, Bhutan, Uruguay, Mongolia, the Maldives, Curacao... so let's stop talking about developed countries, shall we?

@DocCarlos

The US is still number 1 country about total cases and total deaths. Virus are always changing all over world. New variants may get you again. Mask, social distance, washing hands are seem still important for a few years. And so many Americans don't get vaccine yet. Biden says his target is 70% of Americans are going to get vaccine until July, so far 70% is not done yet. 30% would never get vaccine. These people may make new variant to get you again.

Osaka city is aiming to vaccinate around 3,500 people per day, the highest target among the 28 local governments.

Its scary that this is being cited as the best in the country, given the math cited by other commenters.

Japan has long depended on imports, especially for food and energy. So we might think that there is a basic understanding that after you import, you need to distribute and sell, or you just have a pile of aging inventory. So now we hear that Japan has a huge stockpile of vaccines and we have the central and all these local governments just not considering how to get people vaccinated. This is beyond thoughtlessness; it is negligence, and those in authority positions should be held legally responsible for deaths.

just not--just now. (JT comments need the option to edit.)

"Mass vaccination sites"? Maybe stop limiting yourself to looking for doctors and nurses (who seem to be too busy trying to deal with sick COVID patients already), and get the military in on inoculations, and open up more areas as sites.

Here in the US, as another already pointed out, you can walk into a CVS or Walmart to get a shot. Kroger (a big grocery chain with pharmacies), you don't even need an appointment anymore to get your first shot. I've seen people lined up in cars at a local church getting them administered. Here in Ohio we're using encouragement programs to get people to take their shot (five lucky people will win $1 million and five younger people will win college tuition to any four-year college of their choice in Ohio, and everything including books, expenses and living quarters paid for).

That approach seems to be getting more people to get their first shot, so there's that at least.

It doesn't take years of med school to learn how to administer shots...just need to know where to give it, how much to give (not even that if the needle is pre-filled), and train locations to keep them cold after taking them from the deep-freeze.

But clearly something needs to be done to pick up the pace, especially since the government really wants a showcase Olympics this year....

In the UK, St John's ambulances trained volunteers to administer vaccines over a weekend.

Knowing that they'd rather let people die and the economy suffer than even consider such a scheme here, frustrates me beyond words.

Why so slow ? Seriously over a year to prepare and it’s still in “consideration “ ? As bad as the Australians … get cracking and stop play with Covid and peoples lives .

Windfall for US companies again. Sputnik V is 10% of the cost.

side effects and deaths from these two mRNA vaccines are increasing.

"Forget about appointments. Forget about age requirements. Just start vaccinating."

and watch chaos.

Sad to say, but I think the Japanese government honestly believed, and still believes, that the nation was going to overcome the pandemic with superior "mindo" alone. The vaccines are just an afterthought.

The right thing to do - anything that speeds up the vaccination rollout will be good for Japan.

I just received my 'invitation' to schedule a COVID vaccination. Registration starts at 9:00 AM on 5/27. I have a choice of making a telephone call to a medical facility I choose from a list or using a QR code to register online. From my experience helping others register in a previous round I expect maximum congestion. One person I helped had to make more than 60 phone calls to get through. I will be using a re-dialer application on my phone to try to maximize my chances of getting through early. In the previous round, people who got through in the first hour got appointments about 21 days in the future.

This process seems highly inefficient and cumbersome. I think a mass vaccination site would be much more efficient. They could easily use the neighborhood community centers (kominkan) as sites and make it convenient for everyone. However, I don't expect this to happen due to the lack of ability to "think out of the box" that is prevalent in the Japanese government.

@Elsenach - They should forget the mock/practice vaccinations, ceremonies, and bureaucracy and get on with the vaccinations. Compensate the workers based on how many proper vaccinations they can do per day. And train more people to do the paperwork and injections. It only takes a day to train a person to do injections. You don't need a broad medical education to do it.

A total of 28 prefectures and large cities in Japan are either planning or considering setting up large-scale coronavirus vaccination sites to expedite inoculation of elderly people,

Ummm, Yeah little late? How about all people?

Launch all ready.

"Forget about appointments. Forget about age requirements. Just start vaccinating."

and watch chaos.

28 different areas many different systems not enough vaccines - I call that chaos

Forget about each city. I hear in places like London, there are vaccination stations in each borough.

Yeah, more 'considering', I see. Take your time, what's the rush? Either age or the virus will get me first.

This article is, I suppose, meant to be a propaganda piece. But the ineptitude shown here actually makes me cry.

Well, this article is from Kyodo, so you are right.

28 different areas many different systems not enough vaccines

Japan has already 40M vaccines in the freezers.

It seems the main problem now is the appointment system, they should address those somehow.

Maybe meantime they can just allow people to show up on site and get a number as is standard

Japan is one of the most organized nation in the world but as for the vaccinations, it's a TOTAL mess.

BTW, which are the 28 prefectures/cities, is it a secret as not to be mentioned here or did I miss something?

So what happened to the 1,000,000 a day, the PM promised, (needed to meet his other promise about all aged being vaccinated by July) I wonder if we are even close to half that

Absolutely useless these people. Considering?? Get it done you fossilized oyajis!

Hubert GulletchipToday 06:28 am JST

While in places like the US you can just walk into a CVS or Walmart and get one.

However Japan - despite few people are vaccinated - is still doing much better than USA. USA has over 5.8 million active cases, Japan only 67.000 - and in USA more than 600.000 people died, compared to Japan with 12.200 deaths. Big difference.

HowaitosanToday 08:12 am JST

It would really good if information was supplied in languages other than Japanese.

Information is available for download in 12 languages.

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/vaccine_tagengo.html

Inoculation sites should have been prepared/planned for well in advance.

But all planning cannot be concretized without the supply of vaccines.

And then there's the problem of personnel. Like in building of hospitals in advance suggested before by many readers, it cannot be done because there would be no personnel to man them.

This limits the number of inoculation sites that can be prepared as well

I don't live in Japan so it's difficult to know exactly what's going on there but I find it strange that on the other hand vaccination seems to lacking but still my 70+ parents in law without significant comorbidity simply booked and got their covid-19 jabs from their local doctor several weeks ago. So at least in some places vaccination seems to proceed relatively smoothly.

“Considering”? CONSIDERING???

Are you kidding me? The government had a year to prep for mass vaccination and its “considering”?

Why aren’t the leases signed, the refrigerators installed and the lines staffed?

Oh, yeah, incompetence.

How foolish of me to expect the government that I pay taxes to to plan ahead and make decisions in the public interest.

While in places like the US you can just walk into a CVS or Walmart and get one.

There are also drive-thru sites, where you just hang your arm out the window of your car, and boom, shot in the arm. "Next!"

There's something about the culture here where nobody in charge of stuff, be it government stuff or private enterprise stuff, ever considers the simplest, easiest, most efficient way of doing something. Ever. It's so weird.

There are also drive-thru sites, where you just hang your arm out the window of your car, and boom, shot in the arm. "Next!

I would be so scared. He/she may be a psychopath. I can't see his/her real face no doubt wearing face mask. A shot may be poison seems like a kinda gun bullet.