Suga orders defense ministry to set up large-scale vaccination center in Tokyo

Too little too late for this dingbat. He should create more centers to vaccinate more than just the elderly. Way to prioritize companies instead of your people, you poor excuse for a prime minister.

We are not even considering travelling to Tokyo on these packed commuter trains to stand in line with old people not covering their noses. Is this a joke or a parody of Lost In Space?

vaccines are only a part of the solution. This is a good step, but the government should focus on virus prevention measures like preventing overcrowding on public transport, forcing all companies whose employees who can work remotely, to work remotely, and impose better contact tracing. Japan can do better than this.

I am really interested in hearing the opinion of experts about the justification of putting one single huge vaccination center to receive thousands over thousands of people a day in the center of Tokyo instead of many smaller centers around the city. Is the simplification of the logistics really enough to offset the extra risk to the population that are particularly vulnerable to the infection?

It would probably be faster to design a robot that goes around innoculating people at the Shibuya Crossing.

Political factors are at long last forcing Suga's dithering hand.

Just the one centre for a very large area, how are elderly people supposed to get there? Vaccination centres need to be local.

running for about three months,

Why only 3 months?

My official letter arrived today.

Registration starts around here (not Tokyo) from 10 May. I can call my local doc as he is apparently on the approved list of jab stations. His switchboard will surely be overwhelmed though; my other half thinks it could take until July or August.

@nanda: If you drop by your local doc, he can enter you in the computer as a kibo, wishing to get vaccinated.

Suga has said the government aims to finish inoculating the elderly by the end of July, which

would require the rollout to speed up significantly.

He didn’t say which year July. One such center will not be enough to speed it up. Maybe some thousand such centers could do it

Last night NHK news showed vaccine arriving at some county town BUT said vaccinations not to start for two weeks!!!!!. Interviewed the doctor. He said he would like to start soon!!!! Huh? - the vaccine is there they showed it being put into some freezer but it is now going to sit in that for weeks

Why only 3 months?

Wasn't there something happening in 3 months' time?

Can't remember what it was, they did mention it on the TV news a few times.

@ToshihiroToday 04:16 pm JST

preventing overcrowding on public transport

Unless you manage to stop people from having to work, that isn't going to happen.

forcing all companies whose employees who can work remotely, to work remotely

If you wait for the companies to admit they have more employees that can work remotely, you aren't going to get many more than you already have now. So you are basically going to have to force all companies to not let some of their employees come to the office - if you can't arrange remote work it's effectively paid leave since you can't task them through no fault of their own. But then they'll scream murder about their right to make a living.

Sputnik V is cheap and available

Setup in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hyogo, Hiroshima...that will get the Vaccine in the arms of EVERYONE (that want it) FASTER!

This makes so much sense. Set up one centre and make elderly people all travel long distances and crowded trains to line up close together for a jab.

Why not set up pop-up clinics in many neighbourhoods, and even train acupuncture specialists and others with similar experience to apply the vaccine?

Hold on, I'm asking for flexible, out-of-the-box thinking from a one-pattern governmental mentality.

Captain Combover does the obvious. This should have been put into action a long time ago to get ready for the surge in cases and shore up the seemingly brittle health care system.

Virusrex, there is all sorts of cloudy weather gathering over the Olympics.

To dispense the vaccine locally would indeed be logistically risk adverse.

So commiserate to local needs to protect the most venerable.

Even an advanced vaccination program would not guarantee variant spread. Statically to late.

The numbers have succumbed to the reality of the task at hand  

However, may I suggest could be an over simplification, to the political necessity to hold these Games no matter what.

Tokyo’s Mayor, Yuriko Koike, seriously, check the broom cupboard?

@kyukakusenbi_arimasu: Thanks for the advice above. Excitedly I just went down to the clinic but they said "No, not so. Telephone only from 10 May onwards."

Must be a horses for courses thing.

Why is everyone quoting the Hungarian government around here?

If Sputnik V is cheap and available, Goodlucktoyou, where can I get the shot? Any port in a storm for me. Not bothered where they make it, as long as the side effects are not worse than an average case of WURS.

Anyone who knows how to do a simple injection could do this. Dental assistants could do it. Even veterinarians could do it. Why is it so impossible for politicians to think outside the box? Inoculating 100,000,000 people is not in the manual, so they are lost!

What happened with the "Covid Minister" Kono?

is he demoted?!

Personally, I'm glad Japan is lagging behind in this massive vaccine trial experiment being conducted on humanity. It'll be good to have some places where it wasn't all hands on deck to act as something like a control group in this experiment.

In addition, considering how Japan has been one of the least impacted of the major countries, this makes sense.

I really don't understand the level of fear I see on these comments threads over CV19. It's not the Spanish Flu in terms of WHO it kills or the mortality rate. For a pandemic, it's a pretty mild one and this is especially true in Japan.

Defense ministy, hear hear, at last there is work to do within the islands.

The NHK source says this is the same "large scale" center mentioned the other day. In other words, 10,000 shots per day, requiring 2000 days (6 years) to give 2 shots to the 10 million people in Tokyo.

That is only one vaccination center, and doesn't count the ongoing Pfizer vaccinations, so your calculation is kind of pointless.

A swift rollout of the vaccination program is the only way I'm afraid. Japan has hit 3 million vaccinations now, and the program is starting to ramp up, but they really need to be doing a million shots a day. Japan dithered with approving the vaccines, and again dithered with rolling them out, perhaps due to a misplaced complacency. I think we'll see things really speed up from here.

This should have been done months ago.

I love this idea!

It would probably be faster to design a robot that goes around innoculating people at the Shibuya Crossing.

I can just see this robot zooming around grabbing unsuspecting citizens by the throat and vaccinating them if they like it or not and if they struggle, squeeze the throat a bit harder...

@ nandakandamanda

Must be a horses for courses thing.

I’d be very cautious with the ‘advice’ some posters give here.

'order' There's a first

so that'll be 2 million down, only 124 million to go....

Hungary. Population 10 million. 7 million adults. Not relevant.

Sputnik V vaccine is not superior. All vaccines rank about the same effectiveness. Manufacture, storage temperatures and such are distinguishing characteristics in terms of deployment. Nor is their currently an adequate supply which could be purchased by Japan.

Finally..at 7:22 pm, a sensible comment.

There are other centers being opened around Tokyo, not being advertised but they are there. Hopefully running soon. Get a move on!

Prime-minister Suga do the defense ministry knows, what to do??!

900,000 in 3 months?

Today’s teenagers will have grey hair by the time they have access to vaccines around here.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday instructed Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi to set up a large-scale vaccination center in Tokyo to deliver COVID-19 shots to the elderly faster.

The center will launch on May 24 and be staffed by Self-Defense Forces doctors and nurses, running for about three months, Kishi said at a press conference.

And nothing for the rest of the country. Why the focus on Tokyo at the expense of the rest of the country? Surely other areas would benefit as much or more from the same largesse. I wonder if it has anything to do with the benighted Olympics.

Zoroto...

Source...

My own eyes. My station in has a temporary structure set up and sign posted as a vaccination center. I don't think its operational yet.

@nanda: Sorry about your local clinic not doing that. Mine in Kanagawa last week put me in their computer system. I will go check again later this week or after Golden week to see if I need to change and register elsewhere.

The spouse uses a diabetic hospital in Tokyo and can check with them. 17 years younger than me, so not with the so called elderly. I look at the diabetic condition as more serious than having lived long and well. My exercise, studying and living to the full at the surf puts me in better shape than most of the kids commenting here actually according to my general practitioner. Not afraid of this virus at all, but you never know.

Japan began its vaccination program in mid-February but lags behind other advanced countries such as Israel, Britain and the United States. Just over 1 percent of its population of 126 million has received at least one shot, mostly health care workers.

Just like with PCR tests lags behind some developing countries comparing with other advanced countries

is a ploy to lessen the embarrassment.

One huge distribution Center will be inefficient , overcrowded, and result in waiting lines taking hours, exposing thousands more to the virus.

Distributing the vaccine to thousands of neighborhood pharmacies , markets, and setting up temporary clinics in a huge number of sites will ensure faster service and more effective distribution.

Please don't make the elderly wait in long lines and create huge traffic jams Mr. Suga.

Ok so why only Tokyo gets the vaccine centre? who about this for a plan, every large town has has 6 or 7 small vaccine centre spread out over a city if its a large city may be more, and less in the smaller towns, if Tokyo only has 1 vaccine centre who on earth do elderly people travel accross the city if they have mobility problems, cant drive due to age, etc, if people have to drag them selfs across a large city, this is encouraging the virus to spread, which is what we dont want to happen.

AGAIN: Too Little, Too Late.

This is about Cash over Care.

A building in crowded Otemachi? I was hoping for a huge open space with tents, like they have in foreign countries.

@Mr Kipling: Yes - I have seen 2 (non-operational) Vaccine Centres in Shibuya-Ku now.