Society

Bookings begin for state-run vaccination centers in Tokyo, Osaka

May 17 () - Online bookings for elderly people to receive COVID-19 shots at large state-run vaccination centers in Tokyo and Osaka started Monday, as Japan tries to accelerate its vaccine rollout amid a fourth wave of infections.

Residents of the capital's 23 wards aged 65 in the current fiscal year through March or older were able to make appointments via the Defense Ministry's website and the Line messaging app service at around 11 a.m., before the launch of the center in central Tokyo on May 24. According to the ministry, 21,000 bookings were made in just 45 minutes.

Bookings for the vaccination center in the city of Osaka, also set to open on May 24, started from around 1 p.m. All 25,000 slots were booked within 25 minutes, the ministry said.

Both facilities will be predominantly staffed by Self-Defense Forces doctors and nurses.

Elderly people living in Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa as well as in Osaka and nearby Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures will be eligible for inoculation at the state-run vaccination centers, provided they have not already received a vaccine shot.

Japan began inoculating its elderly population of about 36 million in mid-April, after its vaccination campaign for health care workers started in February, but only around 3 percent of its population of 126 million has received at least one shot of vaccine, the slowest vaccination rate among major economies.

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