'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
After months of frustration and delay, Japan has hit the remarkable benchmark of 1 million vaccines a day. But with the Olympics set to start in less than a month, and only a small portion of the country vaccinated, a question lingers: Is it enough?
The vaccination pace is quickening even as the young remain hesitant amid an anti-vaccination misinformation campaign and officials have slowed vaccination reservations as demand outpaces supply.
Add in continued political and bureaucratic bungling and the arrival of highly contagious coronavirus variants, and there are worries that the government's effort to ramp up vaccinations before the Olympics will fall short.
Thousands of private companies and some universities have joined the vaccination drive, complementing the government's effort to prioritize the full vaccination of elderly people by the end of July.
The acceleration is causing worries about a supply shortage, and further progress is now uncertain. Taro Kono, the minister in charge of inoculations, on Wednesday abruptly announced a temporary suspension of many new vaccination reservations, saying vaccine distribution cannot keep pace with demand.
"It's a tightrope situation," Kono said.
Much will depend on whether the nation's young embrace the vaccination program.
Even as more people are getting the jabs, and fully inoculating the country's 36 million senior citizens now looks likely, younger people are still largely unvaccinated, and their movements during summer vacations and the Olympics could trigger another upsurge of infections, propelled by the more contagious Delta strain, which is expected to be dominant by then, experts say.
A resurgence of cases among the young has already begun in Tokyo, which reported 619 new cases Wednesday, up from the last seven-day average of 405.
The inoculation drive could lose steam if younger people, many of whom believe they are less likely to develop serious symptoms, don't get inoculated. Skeptics are sometimes swayed by rumors and online misinformation about vaccines.
"How we might encourage younger generations to get vaccinated is a big issue," Kono said. Officials plan to reach out to them on social media to provide accurate information.
Despite worries that things will slow again, observers are acknowledging an unexpected turnaround in the vaccine campaign.
As recently as early May, only a quarter million shots were being given daily, with only 2-3% of the population fully vaccinated. The pace has since picked up to hit 1 million a day, a target set by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that was once widely considered overly ambitious.
As of Tuesday, about 8.2% of the country was fully vaccinated. While impressive here, given the slow rollout, it's still low compared to the U.K.'s 46.3%, America's 44.9% and the global average of 10%, according to Our World in Data.
The workplace vaccination program kicked off Monday. The government has received applications from nearly 4,000 sites run by companies and universities, covering more than 15 million employees, their families and students, the Prime Minister's Office said.
Suga now has a new target of fully vaccinating everyone who wants one by October or November. Officials haven't said when new vaccination reservations may resume, but have noted the overall timeline for the program won't be affected.
Japan's vaccination rollout started with medical workers in mid-February, months behind many other countries. The delay was because of additional clinical testing required for foreign-developed vaccines.
Inoculations for the elderly started in mid-April but were slowed by supply and distribution uncertainties, bungled reservation procedures and a lack of medical workers to give shots.
Japan, still without any home-developed vaccines ready for use, relies on imports. Supply has increased from May, and despite earlier expectations of vaccine hesitancy in general, senior citizens fearing the virus have rushed to get shots.
Since May 24, Japan has opened military-run vaccination sites in Tokyo and Osaka, while local municipalities have established tens of thousands of other centers nationwide.
Japanese government and Olympic officials, despite their early pledge to hold a "safe and secure" Games without vaccines, accepted the International Olympic Committee's donation of Pfizer doses for participants, while they scramble to accelerate vaccinations of the public.
If things continue apace, 70% of elderly people will be fully vaccinated by August, while 70% of workplace inoculations will be completed in late November, Mizuho Research & Technologies said in a recent report. If achieved, that would push up GDP by 1%, it said.
An array of major retailers, automakers and trading companies have started providing Moderna shots distributed by the government for free for their employees and families.
Anna Hatakeyama, a 26-year-old office worker, said she is getting her first jab next Tuesday as part of her workplace's vaccination efforts. She welcomes the shot, though believes that the rollout is still slow.
"Most of my friends haven't gotten it," she said. "I was lucky that my company will administer vaccines."
To lure younger people, tech giant SoftBank Group Corp. is offering discount tickets to SoftBank Hawks professional baseball games for those who complete vaccinations. The company opened its first inoculation site Monday in Tokyo and aims to set up more by the end of July for as many as 250,000 employees, their families and neighbors.
Japan has had a historic mistrust of vaccines, partly because rare side effects have often been played up by the media. A court ruling that held the government responsible for side effects linked to several vaccines led to the scrapping of mandatory inoculations in the 1990s.
Vaccination officials have also faced protests from skeptical parents opposed to coronavirus inoculations of children aged 12-15 who have recently been added as eligible recipients.
Earlier this month, a Kyoto town office was flooded with calls accusing officials of attempted murder by inoculating children.
Even if vaccinations climb significantly in coming months, waves of infections could still occur as long as the young are largely unvaccinated, said Dr. Shigeru Omi, a top government COVID-19 advisor.
"Though vaccines are very effective, they are not 100%, and I believe it will take some time before we can get the infections under control," Omi said. "We have to wait a while before dropping our guard."
------
Associated Press writer Kantaro Komiya contributed to this report.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
Dermatologists are sounding the alarm about misinformation from the anti-sunscreen movement, saying not wearing sunscreen can cause cancer and other problems.
Three people were shot to death in a small South Dakota town, and a former law officer who once served as the town's mayor is charged in the killings.
Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party is offering to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government pass a piece of legislation aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada.
An associate professor at McMaster University has been fired after its board of governors found that he engaged in 'unethical, inappropriate and in some instances exploitative' sexual relationships with students.
The actor Richard Dreyfuss showed up in a dress at a 'Jaws'-themed event in Massachusetts, where the blockbuster 1975 movie he starred in was shot, and then proceeded to make demeaning remarks about women, LGBTQ2S+ people and diversity.
'Son of Sam' killer David Berkowitz, who set New York City on edge with late-night shootings in the 1970s, was denied parole after his twelfth board appearance.
Donald Trump's landmark hush money trial turns on the testimony of a prosecution witness who told lies on the stand and cannot be trusted, a defence lawyer said Tuesday during closing arguments.
A homeowner in western Quebec is recounting a narrow escape after his home was hit by a tornado Monday afternoon.
A man's daring rescue of a newborn wild foal that was trapped after falling down a steep embankment was caught on video over the weekend.
A Winnipeg pinball wizard is heading to the granddaddy of them all – the IFPA World Pinball Championship.
It’s the chance of a lifetime for a group of Ottawa athletes who are getting ready to represent Team Canada at the World Junior Ultimate championships in the United Kingdom.
Parishioners at Holy Trinity Anglican Church are praying for a monetary miracle, as their historic place of worship could collapse at any moment.
A Saskatchewan man made it to the summit of Mount Everest earlier this month.
IAMGOLD’s Cote Gold open pit mine, located off Highway 144 between Timmins and Sudbury, had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony this week as production ramps up.
When one is extended an invitation to the Royal Garden Party in London, England, there's undoubtedly no shortage of pomp and circumstance. Barrie, Ont. natives Megan Kirk Chang and her husband Brandon experienced just that as they entered the prestigious event hosted at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
An unlikely celebrity emerged from social media to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers as they face the Dallas Stars tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.