Originally Posted by
Nagasaki Joe
Perhaps so, but if "Japan is still busy vaccinating its citizens as fast as it can with appointments snatched up as soon as they are available," I would think the vaccination rate would be higher. I live in Kyushu and only received my vaccine invitation card about 2-months ago (plenty of time for the eager to get their vaccine by now), later than others in large metropolitan areas, so if everyone is getting their vaccine appointment ASAP, I would expect a higher rate of vaccination. I suspect that Japan too has reached a point where the uptake has slowed due to apathy and hesitancy, and that Japan will likely end up with a rate close to that of the US, which is pretty good considering that the Japanese government (and companies) has not mandated vaccination, at least not to any significant extent, as they have decided to leave it as a personal choice.
Demand for appointments far outstrip supply at this moment still. People are complaining about making vaccine appointments today for the end of October, thinking it's because there are very few appointments available (some false media coverage about there being "only 370 pfizer vaccines for all of Shibuya" not helping) while the reality is there are
many appointments available, but even more people that want them. Lots of people that
want appointments can't yet
make them is what I'm getting at.
Japan is vaccinating over 1 million people per day. That's a pretty good speed.