Japan steps up vaccination effort to key daily rate of 1 mln

TOKYO: Japan's daily rate of coronavirus vaccinations has reached a crucial milestone of 1 million, government data showed on Wednesday, as authorities scramble to recover lost time in inoculating the population.

The figure is a critical threshold set by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to ensure that the nation's sizeable elderly population is covered by the end of July, and all adults by November. As the campaign has gained momentum, with vaccination sites opening at workplaces on Monday, the latest cabinet office figures show 1,013,061 doses injected on June 14, and just under 1 million on each of the three subsequent days.