Japan Government to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all its citizens
A bill was passed in the Japan Parliament which states that the Japanese Government will provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all 126million residents.
New Delhi(Tokyo), 2/12: The citizens will get the vaccine for COVID-19 free of cost, as per a bill passed in the Japanese Parliament on Wednesday. According to the bill, the Government will provide the vaccine to all 126million residents of the country, and was passed in the Upper House of the Japanese Parliament, having cleared the powerful Lower House first.
Japan has already secured 60million doses of vaccine from Pfizer, 25million doses from Moderna Inc., and will further receive 120million doses from AstraZeneca. The bill’s passage comes two weeks after Japan’s prime minister said the country was on “maximum alert” over the virus, and as medics warn hospitals are on the brink of collapse. Japan has experienced an overall low outbreak of the coronavirus, with around 2,100 deaths and 150,000 cases, and has not imposed the strict lockdowns seen elsewhere.
Japan is now facing a third wave of the disease, reporting record numbers of daily infections nationwide in recent weeks. Tokyo’s governor has urged residents to avoid non-essential outings and asked businesses serving alcohol to shut early, although there is no enforcement mechanism for these recommendations. The national government has also decided to allow individual regions to opt-out of a controversial domestic tourism campaign
