Society

Phone companies capping calls for vaccine bookings

May 11 (NHK) - Major Japanese telecommunications firms including NTT are limiting phone calls to local governments' coronavirus vaccination booking lines. They aim to prevent the calls from affecting access to emergency services.

Many municipalities across the country started taking phone reservations for vaccines on Monday.

NTT put measures in place for about 200 municipalities from the morning to limit the number of such phone calls if they spike.

Company officials say that callers will hear a recorded message saying that there is difficulty getting through. They say this is aimed at reducing the number of busy phone lines.

Major cell phone carriers are also restricting calls to numbers for vaccine reservations.

NTT and the cell phone carriers are advising people who have difficulty getting through to call later or use online reservation services.

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