Society

75% of Japan seniors get at least one vaccine shot

Jul 12 (NHK) - The Japanese government says three in four senior citizens in the country have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine.

The government announced that almost 26.9 million elderly people had received the first shot by Saturday.

That is 75.75 percent of people aged 65 or older, and also those who will turn 65 by next March.

Slightly over 16.2 million, or 45.66 percent of those people, have received a second shot.

The government aims to complete vaccinating elderly people who wish to be inoculated by the end of July.

Gifu Prefecture in central Japan has the highest vaccination rate among senior citizens. The government said 87.39 percent of its elderly received their first jab, while 58.15 percent received a second dose.

In Tokyo, 74.99 percent of seniors received the first shot, and 47.61 percent got a second one.

Including healthcare workers and people younger than 65, the nationwide vaccination rate was 28.4 percent for the first dose and 16.8 percent for the second dose as of Thursday.

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