Japan is considering COVID-19 vaccination certificates as calls from abroad increase

Japan is considering issuing certificates to those who have been inoculated against coronavirus, the minister responsible for vaccination efforts said Monday, as calls increase abroad for systems to ensure people can travel safely again.

“If requested internationally, we can issue inoculation certificates,” Taro Kono said during a diet session, adding that the certificates can be processed through government vaccine launch management systems.

Kono’s most recent remark is a perspective on a previous position that Japan would not be in favor of issuing such documentation and comes as calls grow for such a system in the United States and Europe. Israel has already introduced a COVID-19 vaccine certificate program.

Last month, Kono appeared to overthrow the idea of ​​using COVID-19 vaccine certificates for official purposes, including as a vaccine passport that would allow international travel. He claimed that this would exclude those who cannot be inoculated due to allergies.

With regard to the development of the internal vaccine, the government intends to urge companies to allow employees to take paid leave to get shot and go to the hospital for side effects, in light of concerns that some people may have about to make time to go to the vaccination sites, his spokesman said.

“We will look at what steps we can take, including making requests on this issue to the business community and looking at whether the government should allow national civil servants to take paid leave,” Cabinet Secretary-General Katsunobu Kato said in a statement. Press conference.

Nippon Life Insurance Co. decided not to attract payment if employees receive the vaccine during their work schedule.

Japan began launching the vaccine last month, with health workers at the forefront.

On Monday morning, the fifth batch of COVID-19 vaccines developed by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE arrived at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture.

The latest delivery from the Belgian drugmaker’s factory can cover 216,000 doses, with a bottle containing six photos. The government intends to deliver them to prefectural governments for the inoculation of 4.8 million health workers, a priority in the vaccination program.

Japan lags behind other countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, in launching vaccines amid a shortage of supplies due to production delays at the Pfizer plant and EU export controls.

However, as the country expects to receive more vaccines than originally scheduled for the week beginning Monday, the central government expects to provide and send enough supplies for the two fires to cover health workers by the week beginning in May 10.