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Japan starts vaccinations as new coronavirus cases, deaths drop
worldwide
TOKYO, Feb 17, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Japan launched its coronavirus
vaccination programme on Wednesday, five months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics,
as the World Health Organization reported a fall in new cases around the
world.
The same day, Australia and New Zealand ended snap lockdowns after they
successfully brought small outbreaks under control in just days — suggesting
that despite their unpopularity, movement restrictions remain vital tools
against the pandemic.
Japan kicked off its inoculation drive at a Tokyo hospital, with a plan
to initially give Pfizer-BioNTech shots to 40,000 healthcare workers.
“Hopefully vaccinations… can change the situation here,” nurse Rino
Yoshida told national broadcaster NHK after she got one of the first shots.
Japan is battling a much more limited outbreak compared with hard-hit
countries such as the United States and Britain, but its response is being
closely watched around the world as doubts swirl over the postponed Tokyo
Olympics, due to start July 23.
Organisers have outlined measures they say will keep the Games safe even
without requiring participants to be vaccinated or quarantined on arrival.
But there are fears among the Japanese public and experts that the
precautions may not be enough for a global event, even as the WHO on Tuesday
reported a slowing of the pandemic.
New infections worldwide fell by 16 percent last week, while the number
of new deaths also dropped 10 percent week-on-week, based on figures up to
Sunday.
“The fire is not out, but we have reduced its size,” WHO director
general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.
– Lockdowns end in Australia, New Zealand –
With infections topping 109 million and more than 2.4 million deaths,
the pandemic has devastated the global economy, and populations are growing
increasingly frustrated with financially painful restrictions that
authorities and experts say are necessary to fight the virus.
Among the countries that have successfully deployed such measures is
Australia, where stay-at-home measures for six million people in Victoria
state were to be lifted late Wednesday after a snap five-day lockdown brought
an outbreak under control.
“If we had been open throughout this outbreak… total case numbers
would be much, much higher and it is a certainty that I would not be
reporting zero cases today,” said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews.
Neighbouring New Zealand, widely praised for its Covid-19 strategy, also
ended a snap lockdown it had imposed from Monday in its largest city Auckland
after three community cases emerged.
MORE/MSY/1238 hrs
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These measures sharply contrast with Europe, where restrictions have
been less rigorous through the pandemic, and tightening them has often been
politically difficult.
The Dutch government’s nationwide curfew survived a bitter legal
challenge on Tuesday, from an anti-restrictions group that promotes baseless
conspiracy theories about the pandemic.
– ‘Not safe until everyone is safe’ –
Frustration and rancour have not been limited to restrictions though,
with poorer nations and the WHO warning against wealthy countries dominating
vaccine supplies.
President Joe Biden told a CNN town hall Tuesday that the United States
— the worst-hit nation in the world — would have “600 million doses, enough
to vaccinate every American”.
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard had earlier said his government
would complain to the United Nations about hoarding and inequality in the
global inoculation drive.
And Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the new head of the World Trade
Organization, said the body can help ensure universal access to the jabs.
“It’s really in the self-interest of every country to see everyone
vaccinated because you’re not safe until everyone is safe,” she told AFP in
an interview.
Mass inoculation projects have been made more complicated with the
emergence of new coronavirus variants, raising concerns about the efficacy of
vaccines against them.
India confirmed Tuesday it had detected four cases of the more
contagious variant first detected in South Africa, which has spread to many
countries.
The European Union will launch a programme to produce vaccines against
future strains, the bloc’s leader Ursula von der Leyen told French daily Les
Echos on Tuesday.
“The virus has evolved and will continue to evolve,” she said.
“It is important we prepare for mutations.”
BSS/AFP/MSY/1238 hrs