Vaccinations for swine flu started Nov. 2 for pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses in some prefectures, but many medical institutions are still struggling to keep ample stocks to inoculate their staff, who are the most prone to be exposed to the H1N1 virus.
"Although we prepared vaccines for 1 million medical staffers, local governments told us that was not enough," said an official in the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's division handling the swine flu epidemic.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government meanwhile reported medical institutions requested vaccines for 280,000 people but received only 100,000.
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