Photo/Illutration Hinoemata village in Fukushima Prefecture on May 7 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Many people are being driven to distraction waiting interminably in vain to make an appointment for their COVID-19 shots by phone or online.

But then, there also are "well-connected" people who take advantage of their status to jump the line.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 are in progress across the nation, but tragicomedies are arising from the first-come, first-served nature of the process.

In the Fukushima Prefecture village of Hinoemata at the foot of Mount Aizu-Komagatake, however, mass vaccination of all residents--not only seniors--is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

That's amazingly fast.

According to Tomokazu Hoshi, 48, who heads the village's resident service section, nobody had to make an appointment. That's because a carton of vaccines provided by the central government contained doses for 487 persons to receive two shots, which was enough to administer to about 460 villagers needing to be inoculated.

Village officials started visiting every household in mid-April. They took the family members and their professions into consideration in scheduling the date and time of the vaccination.

For example, owners of inns and private lodgings were allotted weekday daytime slots when they would be least busy.

"This is a small village where we know everyone's face and what they do for a living, so it was easy to set up a schedule that suited them," Hoshi said.

The village's official cars were used to chauffeur people without transportation. Some villagers requested rescheduling, Hoshi noted, but there were no complaints.

In stark contrast to this is the savagery depicted in the 2011 American thriller film "Contagion."

As a global pandemic rages, robberies and abductions are committed to obtain an experimental vaccine that is nearing completion.

It's all fiction, of course, but watching it again now made me heave a sigh of resignation at the baseness to which humans can sink.

When reservations are accepted strictly on a first-come, first-served basis, thousands and tens of thousands of slots are filled in no time, leaving tech-challenged people totally helpless.

I would not go so far as to say we should follow the example of the small village of Hinoemata. But I do hope we can strive for changes that will get us moving in a more compassionate direction.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 27

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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