As the vaccine rollout shifts into top gear, its effect is starting to show in figures in Tokyo, with the coronavirus infection rate plunging for front-line workers and older people — the demographics inoculated first.
Among the 560,000 doctors, nurses and medical staff in the capital, the number infected at hospitals was 46 in May, down from 526 in January, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government official said. New COVID-19 cases among medical staff accounted for 0.2% of the total in May, down from 1.3% in January.
Medical workers' falling share of infections clearly reflects the progress in vaccinations, said Dr. Tetsuo Nakayama, a project professor at Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences and director of the Japanese Society of Clinical Virology.
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