Budget for COVID-19 vaccine secured, as Komeito proposes

September 9 , 2020

In a Cabinet meeting held on September 8, the government decided to draw on a reserve fund for 671.4 billion yen to secure the COVID-19 vaccination capacity to immunize the entire population, as Komeito proposed. Japan has already agreed with AstraZeneca to procure 120 million inoculations by June 2021, while a private domestic enterprise is negotiating with US pharmaceutical firm Moderna to buy at least 40 million vaccines by the first half of next year.

Japan has already set aside 1.15 trillion yen as a reserve fund to combat the pandemic, with 9.46 trillion yen left following the latest allocation as well as other outlays.