Unused Covid-19 vaccines are stacking up in the millions in Japan, as the country prepares to approve two more shots in the coming weeks amid a sluggish inoculation drive.

Due to lack of manpower and logistical bottlenecks, Japan’s vaccine rollout has been slow, in a nation culturally sceptical of vaccines and layered with bureaucracy.

Japan imported 28m doses of the Pfizer vaccine in late April but has so far used only 15 per cent of its stockpile, leaving 24m doses sat in freezers.

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The island-state’s vaccine supply is set to soar as regulators look to approve Moderna and AstraZeneca shots on 20 May, national broadcaster NHK reported late last night.

Around 30m doses of the AstraZeneca shot are being made by its local domestic partners, while its first batch of the Moderna vaccine has already arrived.

Shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine will likely be boosted to over 35m doses this month and June.

Olympic efforts

Gearing up for the Olympics, the world’s third-richest country has secured the largest amount of vaccines in Asia.

Four million doses have so far been administered to healthcare workers and the elderly, which accounts for just 2.2 per cent of its total population.

The slowest among wealthy countries, Japan’s government has set an ambitious target of inoculating its 36m elderly population by July.

To achieve that goal, the country would need to amp up its vaccine efforts to administer around 800,000 jabs a day, according to a group of business leaders urging the government to speed up the rollout.

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The 800,000 target would require doubling the pace of the rollout’s best days thus far.

Vaccines minister Taro Kono has admitted that there were snags in the vaccine reservation system and that demand in large cities had exceeded capacity.

“Local government employees are really working hard, as are the call centre staff so I ask that people refrain from issuing complaints as much as possible,” Kono said today.

Beginning its rollout in February, later than most other major economies, around two million healthcare workers still await their first vaccine.

The Japanese government has tasked its Defence Ministry to set up a mass inoculation site in Toyko and Osaka by 24 May, but a timeline for this plan is yet to be revealed.

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