Japan residents to get free Covid-19 vaccine

Japan will give free coronavirus vaccines to all of its residents under a bill passed Wednesday, as the nation battles record numbers of daily cases.

The House of Councilors unanimously passed a bill to revise the current vaccination law after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged to secure coronavirus vaccines for all the roughly 126 million residents of the country in the first half of next year.

The country has secured Covid-19 vaccines for 60 million people from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and a further 25 million people from biotech firm Moderna. It has also confirmed it will receive 120 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.