Covid shots: Self Defense Force vs Setagaya Ward

I received my vaccine tickets in the post from Setagaya Ward and immediately went to the Japanese Self Defense Forces website to book an appointment.

“Looking to get vaccinated by the Japanese military?” you ask, skeptically. Yes, this is a thing. Here in Japan, there are now a zillion different tracks for the administration of vaccines: each town, county or city – or in big cities, each ward (the equivalent of a borough) – administers the delivery of vaccines for its residents.

In general, all these localities had been following the national government guidance on priorities for inoculation: over-65s first, those with chronic ailments such as diabetes or heart disease next, then 60-64s (I’m a sprightly 63). 

Concurrent with these efforts, the country managed to vaccinate tranches of several million doctors and nurses of all ages; employees in senior citizen homes, likewise. Most recently some large corporations like Japan Airlines have started jabbing their employees.

There have been exceptions to the age priorities, perhaps because some localities that were designated to receive vaccines did not have enough aged residents for an exclusive over-65s category to make sense.