Due to the difficulty of making appointments for vaccination against the new coronavirus at some local governments and medical institutions, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced that it has purchased an additional 1000 million doses of vaccine.
The vaccine corresponding to the XBB strain, a derivative of the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus, has been administered to all people over 20 months of age who wish to do so since the 6th of last month.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has been purchasing vaccines from manufacturers while checking the status of the number of people who wish to be vaccinated in order to reduce the waste of vaccines as much as possible, and purchased 7 million doses in July this year and an additional 2500 million doses last month.
On the other hand, some local governments and medical institutions continue to find it difficult to make appointments for vaccinations, as the number of applicants is higher than initially expected.
In anticipation of the winter when infections spread, the Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare announced on the 1000th that it has purchased an additional 900 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and
100 million doses of the Moderna vaccine so that vaccinations can continue to be carried out without delay.
The vaccine is expected to be delivered to local governments and medical institutions from next month to the end of the year.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare says, "We will continue to provide reliable supplies so that people who want to get vaccinated can get vaccinated without delay."