The government is speeding up inoculations of workers and university students in urban centers such as the Tokyo metropolitan area, where a large segment of the population has yet to be vaccinated and risks transmitting the novel coronavirus.

Government officials hope the accelerated rollout will help create much-needed momentum for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Opinion polls have consistently shown widespread wariness among the public about staging the events this summer amid the public health crisis.

The number of people in Japan expected to join the inoculation campaign that targets companies and universities reached 10.72 million by the evening of June 14, according to a Twitter account of the prime minister’s office.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine will be used for the campaign. The government will rent equipment to keep the doses at minus 20 degrees.

In Tokyo and other urban centers, people in their 20s and 30s have accounted for a large portion of new COVID-19 cases in recent months.

The rollout to companies and universities will make it easier for the working-age generation and students to get a jab at a location where they usually are during the day, a member of the Suga Cabinet said.

A senior official at the prime minister’s office expressed hope that the move will help buoy up people’s expectations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games as more younger people get vaccinated.

“If the vaccinations at workplaces and campuses make progress, expectations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will grow significantly,” the official said.

The government announced the office and campus vaccination campaign on June 1, expecting to start it from June 21. All Nippon Airways Co. became the first company to carry out the program from June 13, ahead of the campaign's official start.

The program to allow businesses and universities to inoculate workers and students and other members of the community is aimed at accelerating overall vaccinations by reducing the burden on municipalities with large populations, according to the health ministry.

Companies are eligible for the program if they can secure doctors, nurses and vaccination centers on their own and can administer at least 2,000 jabs, which means fully vaccinating 1,000 people.

Employees of companies who have joined the program and their families are eligible to get shots.

The ministry’s guidelines specify that all employees should be able to get a jab, regardless of their employment status, such as if they are regular, nonregular or contract employees, and desire to be vaccinated.

They also advise that workers age 65 or older and people with underlying health conditions should be given priority over others under the office vaccination campaign, just like the program carried out by municipalities.

The guidelines also recommend that people working in the same department or section get vaccinated staggered over several days. It is because some may be unable to work due to such side effects as fatigue, headache and fever, which they could develop in a couple of days after receiving a shot.

Companies are required to report suspected cases of side effects to the government-affiliated Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency through their in-house clinic or a medical institution that they are associated with.

While companies must shoulder the cost for securing a vaccination center, the government will pick up the tab for inoculations.

Some companies are moving to roll out vaccines for as many people as possible in line with the ministry’s guidance.

Tokyo Store Corp., operator of a chain of supermarkets in the Tokyo metropolitan area, included part-time workers in its list of eligibility for shots. Other companies plan to also vaccinate security guards assigned to their offices.

Japan began with immunizations of health care workers first and then people aged 65 or older, an age group that is prone to develop serious symptoms if they become infected with the coronavirus.

Now, more than 30 percent of the nation's 36 million seniors have received their first vaccine shot.

Some less populated municipalities report that they expect to have fully vaccinated their entire elderly population before long.

But that is not the case with large cities, where local officials still are struggling to wrap up the prioritized inoculation of seniors.

(This article was compiled from reports by Kayoko Geji, Sho Hatsumi, Junya Sakamoto and Takehiro Tomoda.)