THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
December 16, 2021 at 17:02 JST
A medical staffer administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a man at a mass vaccination site in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward on May 3, the day the municipality started inoculations for elderly residents not living in care homes. (Yumi Nakayama)
Setagaya and Koto wards in Tokyo announced on Dec. 15 that they would start administering COVID-19 booster shots to elderly residents in care homes before year-end, ahead of schedule.
“We should move up (the administration of booster shots) to prevent a cluster outbreak,” Setagaya Mayor Nobuto Hosaka said at a regular news conference that day.
Setagaya will give the jabs to both elderly residents and staff in care homes, totaling 15,000 people. The ward is hoping to start the inoculations next week, using the Pfizer vaccine.
For the booster shots that will be given this year, it will use the vaccine secured for use at the ward’s mass vaccination sites.
Setagaya was one of the first municipalities in Tokyo to start COVID-19 vaccinations, which began in April at the ward’s residential care homes for older people needing intensive care.
All residents of 208 care homes in the ward were given second shots by mid-August.
Despite these efforts, clusters of five or more people infected with COVID-19 occurred at five care homes in the ward in and after July.
“The central government says that we can move up the booster shots if there is a cluster outbreak," Hosaka had said previously. "However, we need to inoculate people to prevent a cluster. Therefore, it is wrong to be told that we have to wait until a cluster occurs.”
Koto Ward also announced that it will start giving booster shots to elderly residents in care homes within this year. At the moment, the ward is planning to start inoculations on Dec. 20, moved up from the initial start date of Jan. 17.
Officials will make a final decision on the schedule in the days ahead, taking into account information provided by the central government concerning COVID-19 vaccines.
(This article was written by Yumi Nakayama and Aya Shioiri.)
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