Medical workers receive doses of COVID-19 vaccine at the Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital in Tokyo. Photo: AP file
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Most Japanese medical workers still not fully vaccinated

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By Rocky Swift

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93 Comments
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How could this be true? Surely they are mistaken!!

15 ( +17 / -2 )

Beyond pathetic.

16 ( +20 / -4 )

EVERY morning I wake up and read timhis PATHETIC news...I am waiting for the day I can read something good!

20 ( +23 / -3 )

Abe boasted that he secured 300 million vaccines last year. Could it be the millionth lie?

18 ( +22 / -4 )

The hypocrisy of Japan top level.

13 ( +16 / -3 )

Much of the supply of vaccine was concentrated in large hospitals, and there had been problems in the reservation systems for medical staff, the newspaper said.

How hard is it to have each nurse get their Vaccine during their shift? Dedicate each day to a dept. Monday- ICU , Tuesday-ER, Wednesday-Radiology, Thursday-Rehabilitation., etc...This is NOT rocket science. No one is trying to go to Mars. It is a simple jab in the arm.

17 ( +19 / -2 )

Japan will remain on the travel warning of many countries for a loooong time to come. No in or out. I'm really starting to think Japan wants to regress to the Tokugawa shogunate times.

22 ( +25 / -3 )

So far, just 3.7% of Japan's population of 126 million have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, the lowest rate among wealthy countries.

Tired of seeing JT tout over and over how Japan is a "wealthy" country. Japan is NOT wealthy, advanced, or anything of that sort.

27 ( +30 / -3 )

No doubt that Japan has screwed up badly. However, it’s not just a question of speed or efficiency. The ignorance over what a vaccine even does is astounding. A medical worker friend of mine was recently vaccinated here and she was constantly complaining to me about how scary vaccines are and that she heard they regularly kill people. If someone who is supposed to know is that uninformed, consider how bad most layman are.

The central authorities need to educate and make a case to the whole country on what vaccination will achieve and how it will allow the economy to move forward and life to return to some semblance of normality.

19 ( +21 / -2 )

The problem is especially pronounced in Games host-city Tokyo and other large population centers, where the rate of fully vaccinated medical workers was less than 30%, the Nikkei reported.

Expect the Nikkei to soon be lambasted by the government for bringing this to light, just like the Asahi and Mainichi yesterday for reporting on the major online vaccine reservation flaw.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

If medical workers, individuals who should be the easiest to vaccinate given their occupation and access to the vaccine, aren't even fully vaccinated, what hope is there for the general public to get vaccinated anytime soon?

18 ( +20 / -2 )

Less than 40%. So who would like to defend this pathetic J gov. Truly outrageous

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Sounds ridiculous but 30% vaccination rate is a huge number in Japan...

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Pathetic.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Less than 30% of Japan's medics have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in major cities with just 65 days to go before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday, amid growing calls for the Games to be canceled.

seriously? what a joke japan has become.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

That is so unbelievably irresponsible!!!

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Unlike top LDP politicians, who graciously put themselves at the front of the line. Scum.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Medical staff is not required by any laws to take COVID-19. A lot of medical staff refused to take the medical experimental shot. It's good to see people make informed health decision by themselves.

-24 ( +4 / -28 )

The article refers twice to the Olympics.

what’s the point

we are now in a state of public health matter where the Olympics are not part of the timeline anymore

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I heard those not vaccinated still training on inoculation so they can give each other shots!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

divindaToday 07:05 am JST

The problem is especially pronounced in Games host-city Tokyo and other large population centers, where the rate of fully vaccinated medical workers was less than 30%, the Nikkei reported.

Expect the Nikkei to soon be lambasted by the government for bringing this to light, just like the Asahi and Mainichi yesterday for reporting on the major online vaccine reservation flaw.

Nobuo Kishi, the Defence Minister and Shinzo's brother, threatened to prosecute the Asahi and Mainichi reporters who broke that story, using the draconian state secrets law introduced by Shinzo back in 2014. That law was enacted to suppress investigative journalism.

Democracy, human rights and investigative journalism are clearly under serious threat in Japan. How strange that it's the Olympics which is revealing to the world just how flimsy their foundations are here.

20 ( +23 / -3 )

My in-laws received postcards and tried to make appointments the same day. They were told August. So clearly (as if anyone thought otherwise) the over 65s will not all be vaccinated by the end of July.

17 ( +18 / -1 )

"It's very embarrassing when some underdeveloped countries are almost done with vaccination and Japan hasn't even started yet."

LOL, name one underdeveloped that is almost done with vaccinations.

-18 ( +4 / -22 )

LOL at the article." Less than 30% of Japan's medics have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in major cities with just 65 days to go before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, " Fully inoculated means two shot 100% have received one shot.

-19 ( +2 / -21 )

Laugh all You want @Eisenach 8:23am: “LOL” - It’s embarrassing.

*Reuters - “So far, just 3.7% of Japan's population of 126 million have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, the lowest rate among wealthy countries. *

*AP - “Only between 1-2% of Japanese are fully vaccinated, and its unlikely that even the elderly population will be fully vaccinated before the Olympics end on Aug 8.*

6 ( +8 / -2 )

My in laws who are in their 80s want to be vaccinated. Originally they were told they would get their first shot in June and 2nd in July. Last weekend my wife received a text from her mom indicating their first shot will now be given in July. There was no reason given for this.

It is mind boggling that they still want to hold the Olympics here.

@Eisenach “100% have received first shot”. Do you have evidence of this? If so please provide a link because I know a doctor who has not yet received any vaccine.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I would like to say this is a surprising development for a country like Japan, but anybody that have any idea about infectious diseases and the retrograde Japanese system for adopting new interventions is anything but surprised.

If anything, having more than 3% population with a first dose is to be considered lightspeed for the glacial pace that the Japanese government officials work with. No such thing as a global pandemic with millions of deaths would ever be enough to change this.

8 ( +12 / -4 )

I live in a pretty big center(1M+) and my wife is a nurse at the second largest hospital in the region. She will get her FIRST shot tomorrow. I would be sceptical of 40 percent being fully vaccinated.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

20% of staff in my hospital refuse vaccination. Japan population is 40% refusal. So at least medical staff will have a higher vaccination rate...if we get Sputnik V!!!

-12 ( +3 / -15 )

Just had a nurse tell me the other day she doesn't want the vax. Add that to another in Oz, who's said the same thing. Now if medical staff have reservations, that's enough to give me pause re the vax.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

"Democracy, human rights and investigative journalism are clearly under serious threat in Japan. How strange that it's the Olympics which is revealing to the world just how flimsy their foundations are here."

Democracy was always an American imposition, and was only going to be skin deep. You just can't turn around centuries or subservience and feudalism that easily.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Most people don't know about this, because most people don't care. The New York Times and Washington Post put something in about it every few days, but how many people read that.

Japan is about six weeks away from becoming very embarrassed on the global stage when the Olympics are at the doorstep and this news starts to get out into the mainstream.

Japan better hope that right out about that same time some US politician gets caught with his pants around his ankles somewhere, because if there's no other news going on, it's not going to be pretty.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

The only fast thing in Japan is the bullet train...

6 ( +7 / -1 )

And tomorrow, there will be a similar headline, and again over on Saturday. JT: we get it. Please let us know if there are any further developments, in say a month.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

As far as I am concerned, this may be the single worst handling of a crisis by the Japanese government in my lifetime. Especially one that the government had SO much time to prepare for, even if they wanted to get months of data from other countries first.

Yes, I am aware of the earthquake, but at least more was done faster, even if it wasn't enough.

It simply boggles the mind how the government of a reasonably large and prosperous country cannot get anything right. It isn't even that they are trying things that aren't working, they seem to be doing literally nothing. The last real government effort to accomplish something seemed to be the Abe-no-Mask and stimulus money, which is pathetic. A program making policy decisions with a random number generator would solve more right now.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

It’s very regrettable... that this was publicly announced.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Holy s***! They were supposed to be the first ones to be vaccinated...

Apart from politicians, their families and friends, exactly who makes up the 2% that have been vaccinated?

This really does show that Japan has deteriorated a staggering amount and incompetency is rife.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

This is terrible news!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

In reference to Abe above - I have a sneaking suspicioun that if he was still in charge we might be in a far more advanced position with vaccines than we are now. Oh! But, yes, thats right - most on this website couldn't wait to get rid of him and let the TOTALLY bureaucratic greyness in that is Suga. Be careful what you wish for in the future.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

I wonder what fraction of the 60-70% unvaccinated medical workers are vaccinated by choice.

LOL at the article." Fully inoculated means two shot 100% have received one shot.

I think he just forgot a comma:

Fully inoculated means two shots, 100% have received one shot.

But have they received one shot?

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

To all the vacc skepics, get it or take your chances. At the end of the day it wont matter to those who have the vacc. I moved here from NYC 9months ago. I have had some very sick friends with covid and have seen the freezer trucks full of the dead around the hospitals. Never in my life would i have expected NYC to reopen and lift mask mandate before Japan.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@Raw Beer - I don't know, but I would hope that they all WANT to be vaccinated not only to protect themselves but also to protect patients. The Pfizer jab is now proven to reduce transmission significantly which in this case is as important .

Just waiting for you to post some bonkers anti-vax website source now.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

To healthcare professionals and others: 5,730,967 (1st: 3,695,908 2nd: 2,035,059)

There you go @Raw Beer.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

My mother in law works in a care home, the company owns 50 care homes in the Kanto area.

The administration says they have had no reply from the government as to when staff and even less the residents will be vaccinated.

Near my home there are 2 major university hospitals both are now having staff shortages ( one was in the news recently with mass resignation of nurses) support staff often part time cleaning staff etc...have quit over not Vaccine not even nurses.

Several of my elderly neighbours did part time work at the nearest one as kitchen and cleaning staff, all have quit as they are not Vaccinate, covid us spreading among the staff, these mostly women are basically retired and this was extra money but at this time the risk is to high not worth the money.

So now one hospital has a nurse and support staff shortage the other a support staff shortage.

Yep this is really going well, NOT!

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

And just how can the government promise a safe Olympics when even the medical staff aren't fully vaccinated?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

And of course 99.4% of the non medical population in the country are unvaccinated. Sounds like a great situation to hold the Olympics.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

This is a joke and I would laugh if it wasn't so sad!

Nearly 40 years ago I ( former paramedic search and rescue) and volunteers made up of non medical persons (that had a quick course on vaccination), pharmacist, etc would hit the streets back home to vaccinate the homeless for the flu and tetanus.

It doesn't take a genius to give a vaccine and shouldn't take more than a minute or two each person.

If we could do this type of work in the cold fall in Canada in parks and parking lots, how is it Japan can't even get their in hospital staff done?

4 ( +7 / -3 )

My doctor at Kyoto University Hospital told me that only ICU staff have been vaccinated, so far. He and his co workers are still waiting for their turn.

It looks like I will get my jabs before him. I was able to make an online appointment at 8:35am today, just after the Kyoto City website and call center opened for reservations.

All spots were filled in just 10 minutes. According to Twitter reports. No TV News of that yet.

I have to report to Aeon Mall in 3 weeks for my first shot.

I feel like a fortunate son.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

They said that initially the problem was supply! This is simply not true. There has from the very beginning of the rollout more vaccine in warehouses than going into people’s arms. Let’s state it clearly. There is one and only one reason for the slow rollout: incompetency. A competent government would have foreseen and planned for these problems most of which were foreseeable.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Maybe the healthcare providers should vaccinate each other to speed up the process?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

To healthcare professionals and others: 5,730,967 (1st: 3,695,908 2nd: 2,035,059)

There you go @Raw Beer.

Thanks!

Just waiting for you to post some bonkers anti-vax website source now.

Oh, I rarely visit any anti-vax websites, and I stay away from the bonkers ones.

The Pfizer jab is now proven to reduce transmission significantly which in this case is as important .

A study has suggested an effect on transmission, but it has not been "proven to reduce transmission significantly". Even a press release from the bonkers Pfizer website did not express it as strongly as you did.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Eisnach = Chile 86.7. Japan 4.8

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Before and during the games, low testing, low numbers and therefore also no mass vaccinations needed. Zero cases would have been nice, but that’s something nobody really believes and smells a bit like North Korea and similar. Calm down, that will all normalize and get realistic after the paralympics. lol

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The Nuremberg Code states voluntary consent for experiments is essential so I'm not bothered if medical staff don't get it before trials are concluded

The Nuremberg code applies to human experimentation and specially under war conditions, it is completely irrelevant for health interventions being used for their therapeutic value. This is a confusion very hard to understand for anybody that have had any kind of interest in human health.

If the experts are actually bothered by an unjustified situation that is much more important than your personal opinion, specially if it is based on a misunderstanding of very simple concepts of what is a clinical trial or not.

The safety of the vaccines has been established since the primary endpoints were met and the results published and reviewed, the population where it has been used now are not included in the clinical trials. If you think being investigated in parallel makes a drug or vaccine "experimental" then all drugs and vaccines would be included in that category, that is obviously nonsense. If a drug is being researched that does not mean all people receiving it are part of the research.

There is no therapeutic option that has been identified that offers the level of protection obtained from the vaccines, specially for vulnerable people, but also for the healthy and young population. Much less if it is compared with drugs that in well designed and controlled studies sometimes fail to even produce any benefit.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

At the time of last year, everyone already predicted that extensive vaccination is difficult mission.

But conceited Suga govt had neglected preparation since last year, his arrogance is killing people everyday.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/fauci-half-of-our-employees-have-not-been-vaccinated/

About 40-50% of CDC, FDA employees are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine according to Fauci, Marks

Do these folks across the Atlantic know something about the vaxxes that most people are not aware of?

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

@WhatsnextT

"Experimental"

By your deifintion, every trip outside he house would be an experiment in survival/ injury. Something bad might happen. Just stay home..oh wait an asteroid could hit your home. There is a chance you know...I just hope you weren't one of the many claiming that 10% would die within 24-hours of getting a first vaccine.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Shame on the government.

What an absolute disgrace.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

About 40-50% of CDC, FDA employees are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine according to Fauci, Marks

Do these folks across the Atlantic know something about the vaxxes that most people are not aware of?

These are the same folks that make a full third of antibiotic prescriptions for things that antibiotic are useless for, add to that the completely unnecessary politicization of the vaccines and it is a natural thing to expect.

What I am surprised about is that this is based on a supposed conspiracy where the CDC, FDA, NIH, etc. all hide the supposed huge dangers of vaccines that would make them worse than COVID-19, and they managed to pull out data completely coherent and valid that escaped the detection of every other expert of the world. So, super-geniuses that are capable of this somehow never thought about just pretend to be vaccinated? If the whole thing depends on fooling everybody else what would stop them to just wink at each other and say "Ok, so we all are vaccinated"? They are the ones distributing the vaccine and keeping control of who has been vaccinated anyway. Bam! automatic 100% vaccination rates for them so nobody suspects anything.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Readers, please keep the discussion focused on Japan.

This is the correct approach. Vaccinate the vulnerable first, as they are the ones that could end up in the ICU.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The Nuremberg Code states voluntary consent for experiments is essential so I'm not bothered if medical staff don't get it before trials are concluded

I agree that people should not be forced to take unapproved products and become part of clinical trials. Its very telling that medical professionals are refusing the vaccine considering they are informed and are much more likely to come into contact with the virus.

The Nuremberg code applies to human experimentation and specially under war conditions...

What?! Are you suggesting consent is only needed during war? During peace they can do to you whatever they want...

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

@RawBeer - I would say that 49% reduction after ONE - yes ONE shot of Pfizer is fairly significant!! Unlike you I'm not going to spout around figures that have no studies but scientists at PHE are beginning to suggest figures after two shots also.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

@Erick Haugrud: Do you honestly expect anyone to take THAT website seriously?

Its a website full of propaganda, mistruths..and quite frankly frequented by some quite unpleasant people.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

What?! Are you suggesting consent is only needed during war? During peace they can do to you whatever they want

No, that is terrible misrepresentation born from the same lack of knowledge about informed consent, ethics, etc. To simplify the problem for you this is like trying to use the Geneva Convention to decide if a murder during a theft is justified or not.

A document made specifically to deal with war situations is not the basis for the actual, real implementation of clinical trials in an ethical way outside of war, the real references would be the Helsinki Declaration or the International Code of Medical Ethics. These are actual, relevant references that anybody that has real interest in clinical trials would have known. The Nuremberg Code is usually mentioned by people without knowledge nor interest on the topic trying to misrepresent therapeutic use as if it were experimental, like in this case.

In Japan nobody is being "forced" to do anything, and vaccination of medical personnel or the elderly population is not part of any trial, thus making ethical consideration on human experimentation explicitly irrelevant. The actual ethical considerations are about consent for treatment. Something the Nuremberg Code doesn't even mention.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I would say that 49% reduction after ONE - yes ONE shot of Pfizer is fairly significant!!

Are you referring to the decrease in symptomatic infection observed in the Israeli study? Which BTW involves exclusively or mainly the original Wuhan strain (not the variants).

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Japanese people are best when working in a group and it always takes a considerable time until they are all motivated and while now behind in vaccination I expect Japan to become very active during the next month and to catch up considerably.

It's about the mentality of Japanese people. First very confused, clueless and indecisive what to do and doing more or less nothing - and suddenly all of them start to work obsessively at least 10 hours a day, 7 days a week to fix a problem.

You can compare Japan with South Korea, where the present situation about its vaccination program is very similar to those in Japan.

Very few people in South Korea are vaccinated, many are still waiting for the first shot.

Just today in the news in South Korea there is an article about the situation regarding covid-19 and its 52 million people.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210520000167

While the country launched its vaccination program on Feb. 26, it has been sluggish in inoculating South Koreans amid the tight supply of vaccines.

As of Wednesday, 1,180,516 people, or 2.5 percent of the country's population, have been fully vaccinated, receiving both doses of two-part vaccines.

A total of 3,759,157 people, or 7.3 percent, have received their first shots, up 1,783 from a day earlier.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Its very telling that medical professionals are refusing the vaccine

Medical professionals are not refusing the vaccine.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

@Raw Beer. I'm referring to the PHE study - which does not include the Indian variant , which as you well know hasn;t been around long enough to be able to provide accurate data, It did however cover the Kent and South African variants. As much as I respect Israel ands the way they have rolled the vaccine out - a population of 9 million will not provide as much data as a country of 56 million which is ethnically and economically much more diverse.

You can nit pick all you want, but rest assured boosters will already be in trials against new variants.

We can stamp this out, but only if people like yourself get on board.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

and no @Raw Beer - I am referring to transmission.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The pharma industry in Japan and South Korea was very confident to develop its own vaccine within the first half of this year or at least to produce it under licence, but also had to admit this is not so easy as expected.

Not impossible, but it takes a lot of more time. To develop a vaccine can take years.

There is a good report today in the South Korean news, explaining all these issues, which are more or less the same production problems in Japan.

Japan and South Korea are near to agreements with USA, but nothing is really decided yet.

Just a few sentences out of this article from South Korea

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210519000182

The best scenario for South Korea to step up as a global production hub for COVID-19 vaccines is that the US government and US-based vaccine makers come to an agreement to waive patents and transfer related technologies for a certain price

mRNA is the most advanced vaccine technology and no South Korean firms have advanced their technology to such levels.

----

Should there be no technology transfer, the consortium may have to spend over two years to develop its own vaccine and go through clinical trials.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“Medical professionals are not refusing the vaccine.”

Some are

2 ( +2 / -0 )

More fool them.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Please attend to medical health staffs first so that they can help us.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Not long ago, they were bragging that they were vaccinating health workers, non-stop. I assumed that by now, most had been vaccinated. Stupid me, again. I nominate this as the embarrassment of the day. I wonder what it will be tomorrow.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

As much I love the country overall, this is a case of all-time classic Japanese incompetence

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Maybe, medical staff tends to be more aware of risks related to experimental gene therapies?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Just discharged from the mandatory hospital stay after I got COVID-19 in Fukushima. Fortunately I was in good shape and had a mild case but let me tell you, a mild case of this is not a good time, especially around day 4. I had so wanted that vaccine, I had even purchased a ticket to go back to the USA in June because basically most of us here have NO HOPE of getting vaccinated this year. Japan's vaccine response has been PATHETIC! This country will be way behind most of the world in getting any sort of it's economy back in shape.

The only good thing about catching it is that now I'm basically immune.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Glad you're back on the job, Kevin!

Japan can't get out of its own way.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I have quite close relationships with a few GP's. They have received both doses as have their young and healthy wives and children (if over 16). Perhaps that is why the role out is so slow? Doctors pushing their families to the front of the queue before the elderly and most vulnerable.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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