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© Thomson Reuters 2021.Kono to handle coordination of coronavirus vaccinations
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© Thomson Reuters 2021.
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GrungeHamster
My man wants to host the Olympics in July...good luck.
thepersoniamnow
Assigning a non medical professional to a medical job....
Well at least Kono speaks English
noriahojanen
It's sensible. Japan's health ministry is super-busy, engaged in many jobs (they should not only handle public health but also labor issues). They better outsource assignments. I think Minister Kono is capable of handling it.
vanityofvanities
Good, Suga appointed Kono for the job. Kono is "osagawase man" he speaks straight but he is dynamic and his thinking new. LDP is a group of "ro gai" old folks.
noriahojanen
Mr Kono understands efficiency. He also can get things done as promised and on scheduled. Hanko use for approval at public office have been abolished by 99%.
押印99%廃止 河野規制改革相「霞が関もやればできる」
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQODE142DP0U1A110C2000000
I hope he would be able to do so smoothly in vax procurement.
obladi
Is Suga passing the baton to Kono? It would probably be an improvement.
Monty
Start end of february doesnt automatically mean that the public can get it already end of february.
I am sure it will be summer, probably July, August until the public can be vaccinated.
I hope end of february they start with medical staff and eldery people.
factchecker
The neighbours cat could do a better job than Suga.
MarkX
I don't understand this love affair many people have with Taro Kono. Yes, I wrote his name that way, because he was the minister who pushed to have all names written family name first, first name second. He is a part of the old boys club, and seems a bit xenophobic. With him in charge of the vaccine role out, I wouldn't be surprised if foreigners were last to receive the vaccine.
thelonius
They should give the vaccine to those most eager and capable of receiving it the quickest. Once they start micromanaging who gets what when, supplies start piling up, sitting useless on the shelf. This is what is currently happening in the U.S. and other places. Would be good if Japan learns from these mistakes.
Fiddlers
At least we know who to blame when they make a mess of rolling out the vaccine. Also this should have started already.
Sh1mon M4sada
In a country with a record of being wary against vaccination and lowest vaccination rate in the developed world. Kono is the right man for the job, because he won't be forceful (do the job well), and he'll quickly fold to local political pressure. Why waste good vaccination on people who don't want it, save it for LDP cronies. Suga, smart guy.
Capuchin
Feels like a political maneuver to tie Suga's fast sinking ship to the next PM hopeful. A good way to ensure someone does a good job by putting their reputation and future prospects on the line.
I'm dubious about all the love that Kono seems to get. His English is good, he's slightly less out of touch than many of his prehistoric contemporaries and seems to be marginally more competent but make no mistake he's deep in the old boys club. He's not the progressive people seem to portray him as.
Capuchin
100% agree.
bo
Major Japan CEOs getting under-the-table immunizations with unapproved Chinese vaccine..(Daily Mainichi headline Jan 5)
Guess we will have to see if those guys survive, before they roll out to the masses
Michael Machida
Psssst! Does anyone besides me think that no one in the government actually knows what to do? Seems like sound bites to me.
zurcronium
Was former PM Mogi too busy to take this role?
natsu823
Good choice! I like him. He will get the job done fast! He knows western culture and his English is high level. Can you imagine a typical Ojiisan running the show?
wanderlust
Assigning a non medical professional to a medical job....
Not really, it's a logistic and management task to coordinate manufacturing, storage, distribution, administration; the medical part is right at the end of the chain, the patient assessment, injection and follow-up.
In the UK, they assigned an Army Logistics chief to fix the mess that the health care professionals made...
Do the hustle
This should be interesting. Kono has failed at every political position he has held over the past twenty years.
kurisupisu
What vaccines have been delivered to Japan?
Where are the vaccination centres going to be for millions of people?
Has Taro Kono been assigned thousands of workers in order to get this done over the whole of Japan?
The hospitals in Japan do not have the ability to do large scale vaccinations and many hospitals will refuse to do so as the owners fear viral spread!
I do not see much ability to get anything done before April.
Well, at least the Olympic stadiums in Tokyo will have a useful purpose this year...
robert maes
I agree with many of the comments here. First this is a logistic and operational issue and experts from the sports and entertainment event organisation( not Dentsu) should work alongside Sagawa and other efficient couriers.
hospitals should not be used as inoculation venues as they will be at full capacity training patients and COVID 19 patients. Only vaccines administered there should be to staff and patients. We need mobile teams as well for the retirement homes and other institutions.
it is important to realise the pace of vaccinations is determined by the manufacturers delivery capacity, not the inoculation teams. So coordination as from yesterday with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna is key.
I want to be involved, I have organised F1races, track and field major events, created football teams and events. Musical festivals and concerts. This is our expertise area, not from bureaucrats or ministeries.
Finally I agree Kono was tricked into this by Suga but Kono San is clever enough to know that and he decided to pick up the glove. He took his responsibility or so I am inclined to hope
pepelepew
The end of February?
Why the delay?
The preparations for distribution and mass vaccinations should have already been completed by now. Everyone knew the vaccine was coming.
Mlodinow
From what I've seen, there is a disconnect between Suga's "vaccination starting the end of Feb" and the Health Ministry's "we need to run thorough stage 1 & 2 testing before vaccinating the public, which will take a few months".
Has anyone heard how Suga plans to start vaccinating without approval of his own Health Ministry? The sooner we start, the better.
Sven Asai
Great, another month of holidays...lol
Bububu4
Do you mean July or August 2022? Vaccinating everyone by this summer would mean about 700,000 people a day, every day, for 6 months straight would need to be getting jabbed... and that’s just one shot. We’d need two shots to be completely protected.
didou
Did you get your 100,000 yens last, after the Japanese people ?
Not me.
If you are a resident here, you will get it in the same time (if you want to get vaccinated)
didou
Pfizer has announced some delays in Europe, of 1 month, to get the vaccine due to some work to extend a plant. I want be surprised if delays also do happen in Japan.
In my opinion, a reason for a February start for vaccination is also dut to the fact Japan can not get the vaccine before as per the contract the country signed. Just some thoughts.
0rei0
Actually for me, yes. It took three months for me to get the 100,000. My girlfriend, on the other hand, living at the same address- two weeks.
Seesaw7
Actually for me, yes. It took three months for me to get the 100,000. My girlfriend, on the other hand, living at the same address- two week
OrieO,. I got mine within 2 weeks. and Im not Japanese. sometimes there could be problem with bank details not matched the ones you provided. Thus back n forth contact with the bank until approved.
0rei0
Sorry, but no. If your bank details are wrong, you have to correct it- They can't second guess it for you. I'm aware of this because I often do transfers involving non-Japanese banks. I used exactly the same bank details that the local district hall have managed to extract city tax with in the past, and I contacted them on several occasions to query the hold up, upon which I was told my case is being looked into and no other details were required.
In Osaka the roll-out of the 100,000 yen was particularly slow- Who'd have thought; A city on the verge of bankruptcy unable to disperse funds from central government swiftly...
This is also the city with the highest mortality rate for Covid-19 in Japan, and which just spent a small fortune on a Covid-19 specific hospital with only 30 beds, which it couldn't even staff without the assistance of SDF nurses.
I seriously doubt the vaccine roll-out will be handled any better than the 特別定額給付金, whatever that is in English.
shogun36
Kono? Great. So no one will get a vaccine then.
Let me rephrase that. Anyone who isn't one of his boys or pays him a hefty sum will get a vaccine.
Good job, Suga.
cleo
The 100,000 yen was paid to the head of household, for the whole household - mine came with Mr cleo's, into his bank account, within a week of sending the application. Could be you stymied the way it was supposed to work by apparently having two heads of households at the same address?
skotmanforyou
He sure looks more interested in his smartphone than battling the Corona virus and the lady next to him is sleeping. Yup with such competent experts we will be up and running the economy in about two weeks
AramaTaihenNoYouDidnt
This vaccine will do more harm than good.
smithinjapan
Phew! Because Kono has been so successful at everything else he's done. In the pic he's quickly looking up what the job means online after taking it.
Brian Wheway
Rearange this well known phrase:
drunkun party, brewery, arrange, could't, in, a, he.
so down to the lack of high volume C19 testing a lot of people will have had the virus ( but dont know it) and thus dont need a shot of the vaccine, wont this be a waste of the vaccine? it could go to some one how has not had it and needs it for protection. will they be screening and testing or will they just vaccinate anyone who turns up? will the injections just be given out or will there be an priority order? where will the injections be given out, the local doctors surgary, local chemists, or a car park drive through stadium system?
kyushubill
Mr. Kono here is an idea, hashtags, more hashtags.
Sceptical
Very Interesting! but why release only now?
Sceptical
A relief for you maybe a pain and discomfort to us and your fellow countrymen.
0rei0
Paperwork was issued individually, in our respective names, so I wholly doubt the stymieing was at my end. Osaka city is somewhat renowned for it's みみっちい attitude towards its citizens/ denizens- reflected in its relatively high poverty and homeless ratios in Japan; nothing less could be expected.
Juanito3001
Taro Kono he's our man if can't do it no one can. Should be PM in the 1st place. As I mentioned in a previous post he has the look of a street fighter. Watch him get into his Joe Palloka suit and lay down the law . Speaking good English is a plus but he will need to use stern Japanese language to get it under control by this summer !
natsu823
Japanese people like him.
Some foreigners don't know Japanese. They live in Japan short time.