Japan has begun vaccinating healthcare workers at medical facilities across the country.

The vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech will be administered to the first group of about 40,000 healthcare workers at 100 hospitals.

Workers at the National Tokyo Medical Center began receiving their shots on Wednesday. They will get their second dose after three weeks. About 800 workers at the medical center will be part of the initial group to be vaccinated.

State Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Yamamoto Hiroshi told reporters after observing the vaccinations that this is a big step toward containing the coronavirus.

He said he was deeply moved to see people receiving their injections.

Yamamoto said that the health ministry will work closely with and listen to the opinions of healthcare workers and local governments in doing its best to ensure people in Japan are vaccinated as soon as possible with peace of mind.

The health ministry plans to conduct a four-week survey on 20,000 people in the initial group after their second dose to check for any side effects, such as fever. It will release its findings periodically.

The ministry is preparing to begin inoculations of the remaining 3.7 million healthcare workers in mid-March. It plans to start vaccinating senior citizens aged 65 and older from April.

Source: ANNnewsCH