A Quick COVID Update + Vaccines in Japan
I’ve gotten a lot of questions recently about the COVID situation here in Okinawa, so I wanted to give a quick update. The good news is that Courtney and I just signed up to get our first doses of the Moderna vaccine on July 5th! The bad news is that it has taken this long to begin with. In recent months, as friends and family back home received vaccines and things returned to normal, the situation here has gotten worse. It’s been frustrating to watch as Okinawa has been one of the hardest hit prefectures in Japan. Due to consistently high case counts, we’ve been under a state of emergency since May 23rd and will continue to be until at least July 11th. Even prior to the current state of emergency, the local government had imposed some less strict rules to curb infections. Fortunately, there have been no full-scale lockdowns or other dramatic impositions to daily life, but we haven’t been able to live the real Okinawa experience either. First world problems - I know.
Thankfully, the provost here at OIST procured 6000 doses to cover everyone affiliated with the university, which is how Courtney and I are getting vaccinated. On the mainland, military-run mass vaccination sites are going strong in Tokyo and Osaka, cranking out thousands of shots. Unfortunately, the process throughout the rest of the country has been moving at a snail’s pace, though its finally gaining momentum. Just last week, the government reported hitting the milestone of 1 million doses in a day - a positive sign for sure. The 65+ population is still the primary target group, but in many places vaccinations for younger age groups started this week as well. What remains to be seen is how much progress can be made by the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics.
Speaking of the Olympics, recent polls have shown 70+% of residents don’t support the Games, and the Emperor publicly expressed serious concerns as well - yikes!
To explain why Japan is so far behind many other wealthy, first-world countries in their vaccination efforts, you need to understand that there is a great deal of vaccine hesitancy here. This sentiment began in the 1970s as class-action lawsuits were brought against the government for side effects from smallpox and other vaccines. Then in the early 1990s, the MMR vaccine was pulled because of a suspected link to aseptic meningitis, though no epidemiological evidence was found. Around the same time, a court ruling stated that the government would be responsible for any adverse reactions or side effects related to mandatory vaccines. In response to this, the government eliminated mandatory vaccinations, thereby absolving itself of any liability. To the public the message was clear; the government didn’t fully support vaccines. More recently, the health ministry botched messaging about the safety of the HPV vaccine, leading to a sharp decline in vaccination rates in young women, likely leading to thousands of preventable cancer deaths. Because the government has repeatedly dropped the ball on promoting the safety and efficacy of vaccines, distrust is even more deeply rooted here than in the US, where the anti-vax movement is still relatively new.
The cumulative effect of these prior blunders has forced the current administration to slow-play the current COVID vaccine. They’ve had to go overboard on their due diligence to maintain what little credibility and trust they have left, resulting in long, frustrating delays. Initial rollout to healthcare workers didn’t even begin until mid-February! To make matters worse, the health ministry created a distribution bottleneck by initially only allowing doctors (and nurses under the instruction of doctors) to administer shots. Unfortunately, there’s a shortage of doctors and nurses in most communities, and they are already extremely busy caring for patients. A provision exists allowing dentists and veterinarians to give doses as well after completing a special training, but that barely moves the needle (pun intended) in terms of staff. There is now a push to hire retired nurses to focus solely on the COVID vaccination effort, which should help speed things up going forward.
My fear is that while we are excited to get the doses, many others will shun the vaccine and case counts will remain high here. Only time will tell, so all I can do is to be optimistic and patient. At the least, we’ll know we’re as safe as possible, and that’s all we can really ask for.
