British expats stranded by Japan’s slow vaccine rollout
While the UK’s vaccination programme has seen 33m with jabs in arms, British residents in Japan have been left frustrated by the country’s slow vaccine rollout.
Unable to visit family since the pandemic began, Japan has vaccinated less than one per cent of its population so far.
The Olympic-host’s vaccinations have been curbed by delayed clinical trials and a cultural hesitancy among large proportions of the public.
In comparison to South Korea’s vaccinated population of 2.9 per cent and the UK’s 40 per cent, the slow rollout has stoked fears that it could take another year to vaccinate Japan’s 110m over-15s.
One abroad-Brit and vice-president of a global IT company in Tokyo, Sean O’Neill, told the Guardian: “Why should I have to consider spending £4,000-£5,000 for a trip back to the UK to get the vaccine, plus the same again 10 to 12 weeks later to get the second dose? I would happily pay, say, £500 to get the vaccine delivered to me over here in Japan. I’m sure others would, too.”
Another Brit based in Japan said that some of the wealthier expatriates have been flying to other countries in the region to receive their vaccine.
“I can confirm having heard of executives going to their home countries for vaccines,” president of the European Business Council in Japan, Michael Mroczek, told Reuters.
Despite the slow vaccinations, Japan’s response to the pandemic has been widely praised.
“I’m disappointed that the rollout has been slow in Japan, but the general response to the pandemic from the population, both local and expat, has been really good, so I feel safe,” Tokyo-based recruiter for tech start-ups, Graham Burt, told the Guardian.