Tokyo vaccination centre to offer shots to younger people as Olympics loom

Members of Japan Self Defense Force talk at a mass vaccination site in Tokyo as Japan Self Defense Force starts a large scale inoculation for Covid-19 vaccine.

The main coronavirus vaccination centre in the Japanese capital of Tokyo will begin booking shots for people under 65 from Saturday, media reported on Thursday, as it ramps up inoculation efforts before the 2020 Olympics open next month. Japan began vaccinating front-line health workers and elderly people in February, but the slow pace compared with other major industrialised nations has spurred calls for the Tokyo Games to be delayed again or cancelled. Opening up vaccinations to most citizens may help the government ease concern the country is unprepared to host tens of thousands of foreign athletes and Olympic officials as its healthcare system struggles with a fourth wave of infections. Vaccinations have mostly been left to local health authorities to carry out with some cities and towns vaccinating residents faster than others.