Delivery of Pfizer jabs to be cut 10% in Osaka, Tokyo’s Setagaya, more

Japan’s government will reduce the supply of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to local governments by 10% for the first half of August if they are deemed to have an excess stock of it, The Asahi Shimbun reported.

According to the health ministry, under the new plan, the central government will cut the shipment of some 350,000 doses of the vaccine to municipalities including Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka and Kita-Kyushu cities as well as Tokyo’s Setagaya, Ota and Adachi wards.

The central government had previously said it would ship about 11.7 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine every two weeks in August and September and distribute 80% of the doses as a "base supply" to prefectural governments in proportion to their populations.

The central government had also indicated that shipments would be trimmed by 10% for local governments that have more than six weeks' worth of excess stock.

The doses that the central government will stop supplying to local governments with an excess stock will be added to the 1.755 million doses categorized as "adjustment supplies" for prefectural governments.