Japan trails world in COVID vaccine rollout 2 months after its start

Follow along with the Japanese gov't: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/vaccine_sesshujisseki.html

They are running at about 100,000 shots per day. There are 36 million people in Japan over the age of 65. I am not a mathematician, but if they don't ramp up the vaccinations, we're looking at 360 days to get just the elderly protected.

For a country that has a significantly large population of seniors, high technology as a leading first world nation, and a self-proclaimed propensity for societal coordination, Japan should have been able to school the rest of the world on how to deploy COVID vaccines like nobody’s business. Unfortunately, Japan is fumbling the ball and not delivering when it really counts.

Nothing wrong with site posted by Raw Beer. Just did it on my iPad. No problem. Whether the site is useful, I don't know.

Take your chances.

Seems a nice hijacker are what I found.

Whether Apple browsers function the same as PC I don't know but it is not safe in my view and that of my daughter who has a master's degree in IT/AI.

Warning!

Do not try going to the HCQ site @Raw Beer posted.

I use a high security browser ( not a conventional free public one)

This site set off all my browser's security, the site tried changing settings and installing something covertly.

Even though my browser's security isolated the attempt I still had to get my daughter ( IT specialist) to go in and remove whatever the site tried installing.

Lollipop and TMNT bandaid?

I didn't get a lollopop either, but scored the TMNT bandaid!

Japan really needs multiple pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. It is a strategic capability for any country, just like having PPE manufacturing, local food production and power generation are.

Does anyone else sense the irony of Japan inoculating 1% of their population against Covid while at the same time banning foreign spectators to the Olympics - whether they're vaccinated or not?

Japan does not seem terribly worried about a slow vaccine rollout. Perhaps government is confident they can slow the spread when they need to. Frankly, COVID has had minimal direct health impact to Japan. And the delay buys time to understand the vaccine’s harmful effects.

Injections into bone sure do hurt...

Re: The photo. The Pfizer jab is injected higher up the arm where this lady is having it and is more painful. The AZ is a normal jab.

I can't find a single source to verify this statement. Please provide it.

I had both Pfizer vaccinations and neither were anywhere near that high. It simply has to be in the upper arm muscle.

@Wolfpack

Japan has had relatively fewer deaths than many developed nations

i know for a fact that Japan doesn't count deaths as COVID-19 deaths if the patient got a negative PCR test before dying, no matter if he was admitted originally because of the COVID-19.

what is more inexcusable is that they don't perform autopsy, not even to the COVID-19 deaths.

so almost all the deaths are submitted as any of the COVID-19 effects, but not from COVID-19.

Please, do not take the Japanese death numbers as credible.

Re: The photo. The Pfizer jab is injected higher up the arm where this lady is having it and is more painful. The AZ is a normal jab.

-Establishing the ability to domestically develop and produce vaccines is a crucial issue from a crisis management standpoint.

That's not entirely true. Vaccines can be difficult, costly and time consuming to research. It is also a lottery whether you will be able to produce one that works. It's nice if you can do it, but it is a little like building a cutting edge fab to produce the latest microchips. You can't do it overnight just be throwing money at it.

Everyone building walls, trying to produce their own vaccines and banning imports and exports is not a solution. A pandemic is a real opportunity for us all to benefit from the globalised supply chain that we have spent half a century developing.

The key is to be able to replicate it rapidly in huge quantities. The sheer volume means that we cannot rely on individual suppliers. The best way of doing it is having local vaccine reproduction labs and mass-producing any vaccine under licence from whomever creates it, when it is seen to be working. This maximises the speed of the rollout and can be achieved quickly by throwing money at it.

By all means develop domestic pharma research, so that you can buy a lottery ticket for the next one, should there be a next one, but simply being able to produce the stuff very quickly in large quantities, globally, is much more important.

Most countries are happy with emergency safety checks in a global pandemic. That may mean a few rough edges, but it still gets the job done. Japan needs an emergency protocol, so that it can OK a vaccine quicker in the future.

Good governments never force anyone to have a jab, although they may be required for some occupations. If you really don't want one, you aren't going to be forcibly held down and injected. You can voluntarily join the end of the queue if you are concerned about side-effects or a lack of testing.

The promise of 100m doses in 3 months would require 1m doses a day. That's theoretically do-able in Japan. The UK was maxing out at 1m a day when it had enough vaccine. But it took a couple of months for the UK, with the extant NHS infrastructure, to get up to that speed, as the architecture of vaccination has to be created - databases, staff, volunteers, physical locations, co-ordination and logistics. I hope that the Japanese equivalent is already prepped and ready, just waiting for the vaccines to arrive.

The upside for Japan is that the cases and deaths are very low indeed given the population size. Japan's mortality rate actually went down in 2020! However, the response to the virus will progressively take down an increasing chunk of the economy, damaging the lives of those who lose their jobs, careers and prospects, perhaps their livelihoods, homes and savings. Entire sectors are taking a hammering. Hence the rise in suicides (and not just in Japan). A faster response is necessary. Get on with it.

Can we get rid of that photo? It's hard to watch such incompetence.

@David: Us locals here in Hawaii are most happy to have the place to ourselves again, and with all the COVID restrictions in place right now, if you haven't been vaccinated, you can't travel here or probably anywhere else.

If the locals are so against outsiders you all could stop promoting tourism. Hating haole’s and other outsiders while desiring their tourism money is a bit schizophrenic wouldn’t you agree?

@bokuda: Japan trails world in COVID vaccine rollout 2 months after its start

Do you understand why people is angry now?

You missed my point. Despite any shortcomings Japan has had relatively fewer deaths than many developed nations including those with higher vaccination rates. I gave the example that in the US more than 150k people have died since Operation Warpspeed hit one million vaccinations per day. Sometimes when you look closer the glass is half full and not just half empty.

While much has gone wrong here, I was glad to read yesterday that over 21 percent of Californians are fully vaccinated as of April 11. That, despite reports that up to 1/3rd of the population have so far refused to get any of the available shots.

Looks as if at this rate, Japanese won't be able to travel outside their country for a long time.

I remember just a year and a half ago when Hawaii was overrun with Japanese tourists clogging up our malls and beaches to no end.

Us locals here in Hawaii are most happy to have the place to ourselves again, and with all the COVID restrictions in place right now, if you haven't been vaccinated, you can't travel here or probably anywhere else.

Oh well............

CoffeeDeluxeToday  06:23 pm JST

@smithinjapan

You could have heard immunity without the "vaccine", surely. I mean, once you catch covid and survive, you presumably become immune naturally. 

No, you only have antibodies for a few months, you can get Covid again. This information is not a secret and is readily available if you can only be bothered to seek it out.

I wonder why JT repeats writing that EU export controls are partly responsible for the vaccine shortage in Japan.

Japan received about 2M doses in April 2nd alone.

@Wolfpack

I cannot understand the negativity here regarding Japan’s handling of the covid crisis. The number of deaths in Japan are really small compared to other countries.

you don't seem to have read the title.

Japan trails world in COVID vaccine rollout 2 months after its start

Do you understand why people is angry now?

I cannot understand the negativity here regarding Japan’s handling of the covid crisis. The number of deaths in Japan are really small compared to other countries. Take the US for example, a fourth wave has begun in recent months resulting in 150 thousand deaths in just the past three months since Biden has taken office. This despite the fact that he inherited a vaccine produced in record time and vaccinations had already ramped up to one million per day by the time of his inauguration. Overall Japan is doing very well given a population that skews older and more vulnerable than any other country in the world.

Kyakusenbi: “Trailing the world is no big difference actually because the numbers here are so low”.

test numbers that would reveal the actual extent of the spread and variants, yes. Rate of positivity? Absolutely not — it’s quite high.

It's not even amusing listening to these drones anymore.

Yes because the droning on by anti vaxxers with false information is far better, right?

What bothers you are facts.

I wonder why JT repeats writing that EU export controls are partly responsible for the vaccine shortage in Japan. No exports to Japan have been blocked by now. For instance, as of March 25, 164 mio doses have been produced in the EU, thereof 77 mio doses have been exported, mainly to UK, Canada and Japan.

Pathetic.

The example I already gave was the AED, which is approved for cardiac arrest (an emergency) but not safe enough to use just to wake up your kids in the morning.

Are you ok? Do you need to call somebody?

Forecast for immunity to be achieved in Japan: 2025?

And that might be to ambitious considering vaccination pace.

@HimariYamada

"...no one is talking about ... Australia ... AstraZeneca ... "

But it's 94-97％ effective, didn't cha know?

You might get an answer like this: The AstraZanica trials were conducted... blah, blah, blah... using an open source licencing agrreement in Oxford's blah, blah, blah... Of course no vaccine can be said to be 100％ safe blah, blah, blah... but it's better than no vaccine and blah, blah, blah... if you choose to be a dinosaur blah, blah, blah... for the sake of all humanity blah, blah blah... 

It's not even amusing listening to these drones anymore.

Progress is not only slow, it is Ridiculously Slow to the point were it's Incomprehensible.

LOL at the above comments. Of course, no one is talking about the following:

Australia abandons COVID-19 vaccination targets after new advice on AstraZeneca shots

https://japantoday.com/category/world/australia-abandons-covid-19-vaccination-targets-after-new-advice-on-astrazeneca-shots

Funny. I wonder why?

Some health experts have tried to add a positive twist to Japan trailing behind other countries, saying it would allow Tokyo to assess the situation regarding side effects overseas.

Funny, I always got the impression Japan likes to believe Japanese are unique and that scientific study results from elsewhere have no value here. In fact, isn't that why it insists on going through its own approval process for new medications, even if they have already been tested and approved widely around the world. I'm sure many medical experts here also throw up their hands in despair at this, but the institutions and government still stick to this very limiting way of doing things.

Meanwhile, mutants will mutate, infections will ebb and surge around different parts of the country,we'll go through the clownshow of alternate quasi emergencies and loosening ups, suppressed testing, numbers yoyoing, but the baseline level of infections never being brought down to safe levels for many many more months. And I dread to think the health price we in Japan will pay for the Olympics.

Trailing the world is no big difference actually because the numbers here are so low, they can take their time and make sure everything is set up to go properly.

Are you sure about that, countries that thought they finally had control relaxed the social restraints now are finding themselves in an even bigger surge in cases than before.

"Another reason is that Japan currently relies exclusively on the European Union for shipments of the Pfizer shot, and approval is needed for each shipment under the region's new export controls."

Enough said. It other words, it is not Japan's fault.

After reading through so many comments that are random and off task, I had to go back up and read the article again.

Trailing the world is no big difference actually because the numbers here are so low, they can take their time and make sure everything is set up to go properly.

But the dependence on overseas supply has fanned worries of leaving Japan vulnerable to future pandemics.

and not making any profit on it.

But, I'm gonna go with not taking the "vaccine". Too many unknowns. The way everybody's pushing it... Just seems a little fishy.

Ah yes the conspiracy!

You hear the sound of hooves do you think zebra?

Anyway do as you please but I guess you never plan on leaving home on a trip to another country, because the vaccine will be needed to do so, the EU, UK, Canada, Japan have all basically said it will eventually be a requirement to enter. Right now a negative test but that is only temporary.

Taro Kono has said the government is poised to distribute a total of 100 million doses, enough to fully vaccinate 50 million people, by late June.

Suga has pledged to secure enough COVID-19 vaccines for Japan's population of 126 million within the first half of 2021.

Kono or Suga — who’s telling the truth?

Whether by the FDA (US) or the PMDA (Japan), these vaccines have only been approved for emergency use. They have yet to receive the normal approval.

The thing is that they have demonstrated to be safe and effective enough to be used in the general population and all the data until now also demonstrate anybody that is the target of immunization is better being vaccinated that not. There is nothing normal approval would do to increase the safety and efficacy they have demonstrated.

But considering that the Covid cases and fatalities in Japan are nowhere close to those of the US or Europe, it is very understandable that they decided to be a little more cautious (and trail the world). It's not as much of an emergency here...

There is guarantee that the situation cannot worsen suddenly as demonstrated by the different increases that have been observed, and with the very limited health care cushion to absorb the extra cases it is not understandable that the government choose to risk the population by dragging their feet. The whole point of vaccinating is to avoid an emergency, not react to it and lose lives unnecessarily in the process.

the PMDA (Japan), these vaccines have only been approved for emergency use. They have yet to receive the normal approval.

More demonstration of not knowing facts.

Only Pfizer is available because it is the only one approved.

So the "these" doesn't apply.

And again Japan is not taking the pharmaceutical company's word on anything and is having independent testing done for the others just as it did with Pfizer.

Don't you get tired of being proven wrong all the time?

@Antiquesaving

"HCQ is completely useless on covid-19"

Agreed. Completely useless.

"...proven in every reputable research."

Of course, one couldn't argue with that!

But, I'm gonna go with not taking the "vaccine". Too many unknowns. The way everybody's pushing it... Just seems a little fishy.

The FDA is totally irrelevant...

The article is about how Japan trails the world so why not bring up the FDA and their EUA? Hello?

Whether by the FDA (US) or the PMDA (Japan), these vaccines have only been approved for emergency use. They have yet to receive the normal approval.

But considering that the Covid cases and fatalities in Japan are nowhere close to those of the US or Europe, it is very understandable that they decided to be a little more cautious (and trail the world). It's not as much of an emergency here...

So instead of just throwing cheap insults around, please try harder to understand such simple ideas.

Just because virusrex says these are "bad studies" does not make them bad....

Let's see who should I believe, an educated professional in the virus research world or a conspiracy theories that doesn't know the FDA has no say in Japan's approval process?

Oh that is a difficult one.

I will go with virusrex.

You could have heard immunity without the "vaccine", surely. I mean, once you catch covid and survive, you presumably become immune naturally.

The main difference is that you would do it at an excess of unnecessary risk, something that makes no sense.

Wrong, it was only demonstrated to be ineffective by pharma-linked studies, some using insane protocols (very high doses, patients in late stages,....). Half of the world's population lives in countries where HCQ (+/- azithromycin) is widely prescribed against COVID-19.

That is simply false, it was demonstrated to be innefective in scientific studies, even including the study of Didier Raoult that mislead many others into putting patients at risk, once his methodological studies and manipulations are corrected the study demonstrated HCQ did not improve the chances of patients, not to evade ICU nor to die from COVID, he himself accepted this new results are trustful and adequate.

The "big pharma" excuse is just an invalid fallacy that antivaxxers use to supposedly disqualify any and all scientific results they don't like, don't let yourself be manipulated by them into that mistake.

Many studies show HCQ is effective: https://c19hcq.com/

Unfortunately the less quality the study have the more likely is to produce false results, half of those results appear to indicate some minuscule effect but once controlled and improved the studies (including the one for Raoult) demonstrate it has no use.

Just because virusrex says these are "bad studies" does not make them bad....

Again, it is not me who qualify those studies as bad, but the scientific community of the world, you know again every single recognized medical and scientific institution of the world that says HCQ is useless for COVID.

These vaccines are not FDA approved. I

Wrong country!

This is Japan and Japan required it own studies and approval process, which it did with Pfizer.

It is now doing the same with the other not to Japan was part of the AZ Vaccine testing last year and Japan has still required more under it's approval process.

The FDA is totally irrelevant here and why people keep bringing it up shows how they really don't understand anything about the process.

@expat

Japan has obtained the licensing to produce 2 types of Vaccine locally.

AZ is already being produced.

The problem is that the approval process is snail pace slow and despite already making it until approval is given it will sit in storage.

I don't think Takeda has started making Novavax but again even if they are, without approval it makes no difference.

These vaccines are not FDA approved. In the US, some vaccines have received an Emergency Use Authorization which allows the use of unapproved products.

But the Covid cases and fatalities in Japan are nowhere close to those of the US, so it is very understandable that they decided to be a little more cautious. It's not as much of an emergency here...

HCQ is completely useless on covid-19 and that has been proven in every reputable research.

Wrong, it was only demonstrated to be ineffective by pharma-linked studies, some using insane protocols (very high doses, patients in late stages,....). Half of the world's population lives in countries where HCQ (+/- azithromycin) is widely prescribed against COVID-19.

Many studies show HCQ is effective: https://c19hcq.com/

Just because virusrex says these are "bad studies" does not make them bad....

@didou

It is because now they say: you can't make my wear a mask even in private businesses/stores that the owners say that is the rules to enter.

And it is plainly visible that Japan's roll out of the vaccine is extremely slow and late.

Yes I want my Vaccine but even more my children would like to be able to visit their 90 plus year old Japanese grandparents that are waiting for their Vaccine while all my siblings back in Canada that are over 50 and my parents over 80 have all been vaccinated and Canada isn't producing any Vaccine and getting it from the same places Japan is.

@Antiquesaving

Well, alright, then. Let's see what happens.

May I suggest I don't think that we're going to 'immunize' enough of the entire world's population fast enough. 

We are 2021 with rapid transport, etc..

If we could do it way back with things like smallpox,(completely eradicated), Polio under control in the majority of the world, etc...

Doing the same with the resources and technology we have now is certainly feasible and doable.

JT forumers mean opinion has considerably changed over the past year. I summarize. It is just the mean.

It used to be :

I won’t wear this mask. It does not work.

then

I won’t get the vaccine. It is developed too quickly to work

Recently it has been

I did spot a guy without a mask. A moron.

or

Japan is too late to give the shot. Inept and incompetent.

Which could be translated by I wanna get the shot quickly.

Please, please, please do your research regarding side effects before going ahead and having it. Do not believe MSM.

Fine, then do just that, go to The Lancet, The BMJ, JAMA, New England journal of medicine,

Just get off the anti vaxxer sites and conspiracy sites.

For those who fall into a more serious condition, one might consider treatment such as HCQ or other medicine, no?

You answered your own question.

No. HCQ is completely useless on covid-19 and that has been proven in every reputable research.

Been listening to Raw Beer have you?

Why not go with the HCQ number one proponent and also look at injecting disinfectant? Oh wait didn't he and his family get the vaccine in secret? Oh right he did!

Please, please, please do your research regarding side effects before going ahead and having it. Do not believe MSM.

Ridiculous, late in vaccinations and forcing the Olympics in 4 months. What a clown show.

@smithinjapan

You could have heard immunity without the "vaccine", surely. I mean, once you catch covid and survive, you presumably become immune naturally. 

If you're in the vulnerable group, you might opt to take the "vaccine" or you would do your best to avoid it. For those who fall into a more serious condition, one might consider treatment such as HCQ or other medicine, no?

May I suggest I don't think that we're going to 'immunize' enough of the entire world's population fast enough. If you really think that's possible, how do you think that's going to happen.

According to Shinjuku Ward, they will start shipping vaccination COUPONS for over-75s on 26th April, for 65-75s in late May and under-65s depending on how things go. Announcements of vaccination locations and schedules is planned for May 1st.

Also, since the pandemic started, schools in the area have been relatively safe. Now school kids are starting to catch the virus.

The 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony is scheduled to take place on 23 July 2021 at Olympic Stadium in Shinjuku.

kwatt: “No need of big hurry about it.”

actually, big need. The slower you go, the slower herd immunity and more likely variants will spread as a result. What’s going to happen is the rest of the world will be far ahead and close to herd immunity, but nations like Japan will be producing variants and infecting the world.

Gold medal in being slowest and most incompetent.

Saw this today on a different site, but its sums up the situation in Japan quite well:

A significant increase in testing for COVID-19 — and genomic screening for its variants — would better reveal where and to what extent the mutant contagion is spreading, and allow public officials to respond accordingly, but experts question the country’s willingness and ability to do so.

Without that, they said, variants spreading unseen could propel the outbreak to record-breaking heights.

“Japan’s testing for the coronavirus has always been lacking, and the same can be said now of its attempt to detect variants,” said Hiroshi Kasanuki, a visiting professor at Waseda University’s Medical Regulatory Science Institute. “Disjointed attempts to screen for variants across different regions speaks to the absence of a cohesive, nationwide policy.”

Whole article here:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/04/12/national/coronavirus-variants-tokyo-osaka/

@Zoroto

I decided for me. She decided for her.

Japan's rollout is unbelievably slow - Shameful Display!

Everything seems okay as people can get vaccine little by little but it takes time. All people would get one until end of this year. No need of big hurry about it.

You may be in luck! There may be two extra doses available for you and your wife. We're not taking them.

Yes you keep saying that.

Under your logic you aren't going to use antibiotics if you have a disease or infections because they aren't 100% effective or safe!

Good luck.

@Antiquesaving

You may be in luck! There may be two extra doses available for you and your wife. We're not taking them.

Isn't the injection supposed to go in lower on the side of the arm, where the is a bit more meat? Looks like this is right to bone. Poor lady.

No, that’s the right place, covid vacs are intra-muscular and are administered quite high up in the arm. I had my first dose last week, just like the woman in the photo.

Ol' doc looks like he is throwing a dart.

He might have better luck using a dart.

Clearly this guy hasn't given Vaccines in decades.

The found him the some old examination room, dusted him off and gave him a syringe told him to go to work.

Ol' doc looks like he is throwing a dart.

I think the nurse is on the left and the doctor is telling him, "NO! That is grannies should bone, try a tad lower!"

Not really practical or social. But they could quicken the passe by letting non doctors give the vaccine the old way, in the buttocks.

Yep it is just fine to use the upper buttocks, takes far less skill gets the job done.

Line up a bunch of nursing students give them an hours training and let the Jab away.

Crude but effective.

Also, exactly what is the nurse adding to this procedure? Just putting his hands on the patient out of some sense that he should be doing something?

Isn't the injection supposed to go in lower on the side of the arm, where the is a bit more meat? Looks like this is right to bone. Poor lady.

That looks way too high. He should have let the younger guy do it.

Yeah, don't they usually give shots lower down in more fleshy parts. That's up near the bone!

Most Japanese doctors are quacks, so this photo is not even surprising after living here so many years.

I just fixed a sentence.

trailing many undeveloped nations.

"Establishing the ability to domestically develop and produce vaccines is a crucial issue from a crisis management standpoint," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in a Diet session Monday.

Does this guy ever say he "will do" something? It's always just stating the obvious. I never heard of him talking about what they "will do" and only "what needs to be done".

Not going to lie.

I have really mulled the idea of getting a plane ticket back home, going through the 2 weeks Hotel quarantine ( paying for it all with borrowed money) getting the vaccine as they are now vaccinating people over 50, and then coming back.

I estimate it would take between one and a half months to two months but even that would be faster than waiting in Japan.

Problem is my Japanese wife couldn't go with me under my countries travel restrictions and wouldn't be able to get the vaccine there either, so we wait,

@Alex

Wow that poor woman, whoever these people are they certainly don't know how to give an injection.

Yeah, don't they usually give shots lower down in more fleshy parts. That's up near the bone!

Isn't the injection supposed to go in lower on the side of the arm, where the is a bit more meat? Looks like this is right to bone. Poor lady.

Also, is this at a nursing home or nursery home?

Japan has tendency that disrespect logistics since prewar.

Suga government concentrated political resource to vaccination, but cannot yet finish even vaccination to medical workers.

Wow that poor woman, whoever these people are they certainly don't know how to give an injection.

Progressing SLOWLY is an understatement! This is embarassing..