I am really quite frustrated with the glacial pace of vaccine rollout by the Japanese government (and the slowness to do ANYTHING at all shown by Prime Minister Suga). The Japanese government finally got around to approving the Pfizer vaccine in mid-February. In the six weeks or so since then, they have administered…about 1 million doses (so either 500k people fully vaccinated or 1M people half-vaccinated or somewhere in between) in a country of 126 million. That’s less than 1% of the population.
They are still working on just frontline healthcare workers. At first, they were promising that they would have enough doses to vaccinate everyone by June. Then they quietly moved the goalpost and are now saying they should have enough for the elderly by June, but they are nowhere near on pace to actually carry out those vaccinations by June. I have no idea when I (as someone in my 30s with no pre-existing conditions) will actually be able to receive my vaccination shots.
I am at the point where I am actually considering flying to America just to get vaccinated there…
We had a lot of gnashing of teeth here in Hawaii over tourists getting their jabs here, but apparently if you meet the age requirement you can register in any state at the CDC VAMS website.
I was thinking of going home to Kansas (where I am actually registered to vote), but Hawaii would make for a much nicer trip. Thanks for the advice!
(PS: If I do this, it would be in August, so hopefully I would not be jumping in front of any locals in line. My understanding is that the US should have pretty much everyone covered by August, while Japan is kind of up in the air.)
New Zealand also has a very meager vaccine rollout, but I think that’s mostly just thumbing their nose at us.
Well, that’s almost everyone in Japan, right? (badum-pish)
C’mon down!
I’m definitely feeling “the more the merrier”, although having gotten my first already may have something to do with the attitude. I do still think they need to shift from making vaccines available to now trying find and get to people who haven’t gotten them yet and might not have the wherewithal to schedule and show up for them.
Interesting choice of words. I’d have chosen complete ostracism over Roman-style execution, but I’ve gotten flexible on these things of late.
Personal note: my four year old niece, who is immunosuppressed after a liver transplant (since her fourth month), got tested positive with an antigene test at her pediatrician yesterday morning.
PCR testing ensued, but her parents were informed the result would take 2-3 days (presumably due to Easter?).
Some of you may be able to imagine my relieve when the negative test result came yesterday night around ten.
Her very existence is a constant reminder to me why herd immunity through vaccination is of crucial importance.
Electing fascists has consequences. They can’t actually “make the trains run on time” as their actual core competency is dominating media discourse, not governance.
Their core competency is in promising to kick the dog harder than they kick their supporters. If dominating the media took competency this world would be a radically different place…
