Nomoto Hidetoshi, Hayakawa Kayoko, Ohmagari Norio
Disease Control and Prevention Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
Glob Health Med. 2022 Apr 30;4(2):129-132. doi: 10.35772/ghm.2022.01015.
The Japanese government implemented a large-scale vaccination policy against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, primarily using messenger RNA vaccines in 2021. Its hallmark was prioritized vaccination for the elderly after healthcare workers in a short period of time. Vaccination for the elderly, vulnerable to infection and severe disease, was carried out rapidly in approximately 4 months since April 2021. We evaluated the impact of Japan's vaccination policy against COVID-19 during the pandemic, with a particular focus on how prioritized vaccination for the elderly affected the pandemic. We observed a remarkable decrease in the number of infections, cluster events in long-term care facilities, and severe disease among the elderly during the fifth wave (August 2021) despite rising incidence of infections in the overall population. In conclusion, we think that prioritized vaccination for the elderly was efficacious in preventing infections and severe COVID-19 among the elderly during the fifth wave in Japan.
日本政府针对2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行实施了大规模疫苗接种政策，2021年主要使用信使核糖核酸疫苗。其特点是在短时间内，在医护人员之后优先为老年人接种疫苗。自2021年4月起，在大约4个月的时间里迅速为易感染和易患重病的老年人进行了疫苗接种。我们评估了日本在大流行期间针对COVID-19的疫苗接种政策的影响，特别关注对老年人的优先接种如何影响了大流行。我们观察到，尽管总体人群中的感染率有所上升，但在第五波疫情（2021年8月）期间，感染人数、长期护理机构中的聚集性事件以及老年人中的重症病例显著减少。总之，我们认为在日本第五波疫情期间，对老年人的优先接种在预防老年人感染和重症COVID-19方面是有效的。
