Japan is making an aggressive move to grab enough coronavirus vaccine to inoculate its population four times over, a push the government hopes will instil confidence that it can host a delayed summer Olympics next year.
“You have to bet evenly to avoid getting nothing,” said Tomoya Saito, director at Japan’s National Institute of Public Health.Some critics contend that Japan’s rush to secure supplies is driven largely by a political desire to show the world it is fully committed to hosting the Games.
Health ministry and Cabinet Office officials did not respond to queries about whether Japan’s drive to secure coronavirus vaccines was connected to the Olympics. Given the size of the events and people coming from all over the world, holding the Olympics require “mass quantities of an effective vaccine,” said Kenji Shibuya, director of the Institute of Population Health at King’s College, London.
Even with a viable vaccine, the additional challenge of immunising athletes and visitors before or after landing in Japan will be enormous.
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