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By Reuters
TOKYO – Japan is adopting a competitive resolution on a sufficient number of coronavirus vaccines to inoculate its population 4 times, an increase that the government hopes will motivate confidence that it can host a delayed Summer Olympics next year.
Like other countries, Japan has several agreements because some vaccines would possibly fail in clinical trials or require more than one dose.
But Japan has other things to do with a massive successful deployment of a vaccine: outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s purpose of bringing thousands of athletes and enthusiasts to Tokyo for the Games, postponed this year because of the pandemic.
On the day he announced his resignation as prime minister, Abe sought to reassure the national and foreign public that the coronavirus was under control, promised that there would be enough vaccines for Japan until mid-2021, and said the country would revoke its ban. since September 1.
The cabinet’s leading secretary, Yoshihide Suga, had previously said that Japan was running with Olympic organizers on how to advance the Games, linking the effort to the need for a vaccine.
Corporations “will likely be able to produce a vaccine between the end of this year and next March,” Suga told Reuters in an interview this week. “There are many considerations, but we have to organize the Olympic Games at all costs. . “
Japan is on track to have 521 million doses of five other vaccines by 2021, for a population of 126 million. Recent agreements come with global agreements with drug brands such as Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca PLC, as well as local agreements with corporations such as Shionogi.
‘HOPE OF A MIRACLE’
Some critics say that Japan’s rush for safe materials is motivated in large part by a political preference to show the world that it is fully committed to the Games. “The plan is to wait for a miracle and then capitalize on this miracle,” said Michael Cucek. , professor of political science at Temple University in Japan. “But the timetable for this is getting tighter. ” Health Ministry and Cabinet officials did not respond to questions about whether Japan’s preference for safe coronavirus vaccines was similar to the Olympics.
Abe is committed to increasing the testing capacity to 200,000 per day while sesuring the source of vaccines. He also said the ban in Japan, one of the strictest in the world, would be easy on September 1.
From that date, non-Japanese citizens and visa holders may leave and return to the country with prior authorization. They should also check for a negative coronavirus within 72 hours of returning to Japan, closet officials said at a briefing Friday. But the occasion would still involve about 11,000 athletes.
Hosting the Olympic Games demands “massive amounts of an effective vaccine,” said Kenji Shibuya, director of the Institute of Population Health at King’s College London. Organizing an Olympic Games in a pandemic will be a huge logistical challenge, as athletes will have to exercise and attend the occasions and several thousand enthusiasts will have to be accommodated at a time when many countries may still be stranded. Japan still has a ban on position in more than 140 countries.
Even with a viable vaccine, the additional challenge of vaccinating athletes and before or after landing in Japan will be enormous.
A “very, very essential factor” will be when an effective vaccine is available and how it will be distributed, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told Reuters.
“We will do everything in our power to prevent coronavirus infections here in Japan and also to welcome athletes from all over the world. “
(Reporting through Rocky Swift; Editing through David Dolan, William Mallard and Nick Macfie)
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