Japan will only receive limited doses of Covid-19 vaccines for the first months of the inoculation rollout and shots for the elderly will be distributed gradually, the country’s inoculation chief said.
Pfizer Inc, the maker of Japan’s only approved Covid-19 vaccine, is ramping up production in Europe, but those increased supplies are not likely to reach Japan until May, Administrative Reform Minister Taro Kono cautioned in an interview with national broadcaster NHK.
“We would like to start vaccinations for the elderly in April, but unfortunately the number of doses allocated to them will be very limited at first, so we want to start slowly,” Kono said.
