Feb 07 (bolnews.com) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday said he has put into action plans to rapidly increase the number of COVID-19 booster shots available to combat the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of the virus that is wreaking havoc on the country.
At a lower house budget meeting on Monday, Kishida said he has informed his ministers to quickly increase the number of booster shots being administered to 1 million per day.
“By setting a clear goal, the government as a whole will work to deliver shots to those who hope to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” Kishida told the parliamentary session.
The Japanese premier told the budget committee that the booster shots, or the third shots, will be paramount in mitigating the severity of symptoms in affected patients and thus helping to alleviate the strain on the medical system.
Kishida said before the parliamentary session that he had instructed Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto and other relevant ministers to achieve the target of 1 million shots per day at the very earliest juncture.
He said he has told his ministers to urge local governments to expedite the distribution of vaccination coupons to the public and to set up more vaccination centers.
He also said that businesses that were capable of vaccinating their staff with their own qualified doctors in-house should do so.
The Japanese leader added that vaccinating frontline workers such as police officers and firefighters should be prioritized so key services can remain unaffected. Teachers and nursery school staff should also be vaccinated as a matter of urgency, he added.
