Why is Japan falling far behind other countries in vaccinating its people against the novel coronavirus?
With the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games due to start on July 23 and August 24, respectively, we have every reason to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination process.
Japan only started inoculating its population of 126 million people with Pfizer-BioNTech shots on February 17, months after the vaccine rolled out in other major countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to data collected by a team of Oxford University students and staff as of March 8 (see table below), Japan administered only 70,796 vaccine doses, compared with 92.09 million for the United States, 52.52 million for China and 23.52 million for the United Kingdom. Japan even falls far behind such Asian developing countries as Indonesia (4.02 million) and Bangladesh (3.68 million).
The delay was largely because the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare took two months more than many other countries to approve its use as regulators were “deliberately cautious” in giving the green light to the vaccine.
On February 22, U.S. President Joe Biden honored the more than 500,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States－more deaths than those in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined. But on March 2, he said the United States would have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for every adult American by the end of May, dramatically accelerating the administration's previous goal of the end of July.
Japan has had much smaller numbers of COVID-19 cases and fatalities than the United States and some other countries. But since late last year, its health system has been almost overwhelmed by the worst wave of infections since the pandemic started about a year ago, with hundreds of new cases still being reported each day.
For now, Japan’s vaccination campaign calls for giving shots to about 4.7 million front-line medical personnel, a process that is anticipated to take several weeks. They will be followed by approximately 36 million people aged 65 or older who will be administered shots, starting on April 12. But no decision has been made as to when to start inoculating about 8.2 million people with underlying health conditions, some 2 million care workers at nursing facilities and the remaining adult population.
Japan’s slow vaccine rollout came amid concern over supply shortages created by the European Union's new controls on vaccine exports and production delays at Pfizer's factory in Belgium.
In his major policy speech before the Diet (Parliament) on January 18, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said “vaccines will be the decisive factor” in our fight against the coronavirus.
I agree. I sincerely hope Japan will do everything possible to accelerate the vaccination process, not only to save as many lives as possible, but also to stage the Olympic and Paralympic games this summer and bring the Japanese economy back on track.
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, as of March 8, 2021
Total number of vaccination doses administered as compiled by “Our World in Data,” a team of Oxford University students and staff. This is counted as a single dose, and may not equal the total number of people vaccinated, depending on the specific dose regime (e.g. people receive multiple doses).
United States 92.09 million
China 52.52 million (Feb 28, 2021)
European Union 42.13 million
United Kingdom 23.52 million (Mar 7, 2021)
India 23.01 million
Brazil 10.95 million
Turkey 10 million
Israel 8.85 million
Germany 7.9 million
Russia 6.67 million
United Arab Emirates 6.29 million
France 5.81 million (Mar 7, 2021)
Italy 5.59 million
Chile 4.95 million
Spain 4.71 million (Mar 7, 2021)
Morocco 4.61 million
Indonesia 4.02 million (Mar 7, 2021)
Poland 4 million
Bangladesh 3.68 million (Mar 7, 2021)
Canada 2.47 million
Japan 70,796
World 312.25 million
Source: Official data collated by Our World in Data – Last updated 9 March, 15:10 (London time), 2021
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