With more than 70% of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the highest proportions among developed countries, vaccinations in Japan are expected to slow down and the overall rate will likely plateau at around 80% by late November.
Despite an initially slow rollout, Japan is now ranked No. 3 for its vaccination rate among the Group of Seven industrialized countries — after Canada and Italy — with 70.6% of some 127 million residents in the country, including foreign nationals, now fully inoculated, according to Cabinet Secretariat data released Wednesday.
The focus will now be on speeding up the inoculation of younger generations, which have a lower vaccination rate, and administering booster shots to older people and those with pre-existing conditions, who are likely to see waning immunity as winter approaches.
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