TOKYO, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Japanese universities and companies nationwide are gearing up to become vaccination venues later this month as the government here desperately tries to speed up its sluggish COVID-19 inoculation rollout, local media reported Wednesday.
Around 850 public and private universities so far have offered their facilities for the vaccination drive along with a number of Japanese bellwether firms.
There has been some backlash from university officers, however, that the vaccination campaign could disrupt students' studies.
Along with universities, vaccinations will also be administered at company offices from June 21, with major firms such as Toyota Motor, SoftBank Group and Rakuten having already committed to the scheme.
Among others, Sumitomo Life Insurance Company is also on board, as is electronics maker Fujitsu.
Sony Group, meanwhile, has said it is planning to have its own corporate doctors vaccinate employees at its offices.
According to Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, the new inoculation campaign is aimed at speeding up the country's vaccination rollout and helping to reduce the burden on local municipalities.
"The expansion in the number of vaccination sites is meant to reduce the burden on local communities and accelerate the pace of inoculation. The two-dose vaccine developed by U.S. biotech firm Moderna Inc. will be used," Kato told a press briefing on the matter Tuesday.
Kato said that the workplaces and universities will be in charge of deciding who gets vaccinated, although recommended that the elderly and those with underlying health conditions be given priority.
The companies and universities, Kato said, will also be in charge of sourcing their own medical personnel to administer the jabs amid the nation's dire lack of medical personnel qualified to give the vaccinations, which has contributed to the country's sluggish rollout.
The Japanese government has come under criticism for being the slowest among a number of advanced economies to rollout its vaccination campaign and has succeeded in administering just one dose to around eight percent of its population of 126 million. Enditem
