China Daily, April 28th. According to the British " Guardian " report, less than 90 days before the opening of the Olympic Games, the vaccination rate of the first dose of new crown vaccine in Japan was only 1.3%, far lower than that of other developed countries, which made the outside world worry about the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics and the smooth holding.
Japan has been vaccinated with the new crown vaccine for more than two months, and the injection rate of 1.3% is still lagging behind other developed countries, the United States is 40%, the United Kingdom is 49% and France is 20%. Even in South Korea, a neighbor of Japan, has received much criticism for its slow vaccination rate, and the vaccination rate has reached 4%.
However, at the end of March, a few days before the Tokyo Olympics torch relay, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide completely lifted the national emergency. After that, new virus variants broke out in Osaka and its nearby Hyogo Prefecture , and another wave of infections came.
Although the government declared a "semi-emergency" it has not been able to curb the spread of the epidemic. At present, the cumulative number of infections in Japan exceeds 500,000, and the death toll is close to 10,000, and Japan has become a hard-hit area in Asia.
htmlOn April 25, Tokyo, Osaka and two other high-incidence areas entered the third round of emergency. Companies closed and companies that did not comply with the regulations would be fined.Excessively cautious and complicated approval process
So far, the Japanese health department has only approved the vaccines produced by Pfizer Biotech. The vaccine supply mainly relies on European imports. AstraZeneca and Modena's vaccines may not be approved until next month.
The United States and some European countries began to inject vaccination in mid-February. Japan plans to observe for a few months before injecting vaccinations to its own citizens. There are 4.8 million health workers in Japan, and most of them have not been vaccinated yet.
However, for the Japanese people, the low epidemic rate of medical staff is not a good thing. Most healthcare workers have not received their first vaccination; in some areas, unvaccinated medical staff are reluctant to give vaccinations to the elderly.
Haraka Sakamoto, a public health researcher at the University of Tokyo School of Medicine, said that the Japanese government has spent a lot of energy to pay attention to the safety of vaccines. The health department first observes the widespread vaccination of other countries, and then does some supplementary tests, and then arranges domestic citizens to be vaccinated. .
However, the overly cautious attitude and cumbersome approval process have aroused public dissatisfaction. This month, a survey by Kyodo News from Japan found that more than 60% of people are dissatisfied with Japan's vaccine promotion plan, and more than 90% are worried about a new wave of the epidemic.
Riko Mura Nakazuka, a lecturer at the School of Medicine of Kyoto University, said that experts believe that it is too late to use vaccines to curb the spread of the mutant virus. The public has low vaccination intentions, low vaccination efficiency, and no unified vaccination appointment system, which further intensifies the problem of COVID-19 vaccination in Japan.
She is not optimistic about Japan's future vaccination situation. It is still unclear whether she can achieve herd immunity this winter. If the status quo is not changed, the new coronavirus will continue to spread - the only way to stop this is to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Image source: Associated Press
The Olympics held as scheduled have nothing to do with vaccination in Japan?
In order to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination rate in big cities, Tokyo and Osaka will set up large vaccination stations in the next few weeks, each vaccination station can receive 10,000 doses of vaccines a day. Tokyo officials said that in order to speed up the city's vaccination rate, a supply of 10 million doses will be achieved after the May Golden Week.
However, in the case of slow national vaccination, Japan is more vulnerable to the attack of the new coronavirus variant. Before the opening ceremony on July 23, tens of thousands of athletes, media, officials and staff will arrive in Tokyo one after another, and unvaccinated Japanese people will not be able to receive health protection.
Four Japanese health experts have written an article saying that in the Japanese Olympic emergency measures plan, factors such as "slow implementation of vaccination" are listed as one of the "emergency matters to be considered."
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and the Japanese Olympic Organizing Committee said that the COVID-19 vaccination in Japan has no direct connection with the "safe and normal" hosting of the Olympic Games.
Haruka Sakamoto said she didn't understand why the Japanese government was so calm and had no sense of urgency. Holding the Olympics is the top priority of the Japanese government at present, and the most effective way to achieve this goal is to get the new crown vaccine. She said that Israeli and the British are gradually returning to normal life, while Japan is still far away.
(Compiled by: Li Rong, Editor: Wang Xuquan)
Source: China Daily Network
