[ti:Japan Starts COVID-19 Vaccinations] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Japan began giving COVID-19 vaccinations to its people on Wednesday. [00:06.68]Many other developed countries [00:09.44]began vaccination campaigns back in December. [00:14.64]Japan is behind other countries because it asked drug companies [00:20.28]to carry out special clinical trials with Japanese people. [00:26.44]The country only gave permission for the vaccine on Sunday. [00:32.76]The delay has some people worried [00:35.68]that not enough Japanese people will be vaccinated [00:39.72]before the proposed start of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. [00:48.40]The Games are now set to begin on July 23, [00:53.64]after being delayed by one year because of the coronavirus health crisis. [01:01.76]The first people in Japan to get the vaccine [01:06.00]-- made by Pfizer and BioNTech -- are medical workers, [01:11.68]old people and people with health problems. [01:16.68]The rest of the Japanese public may be able to get a vaccine [01:21.88]in the late spring or early summer. [01:26.60]Japan has a population of 127 million people. [01:32.24]At the current rate, not enough people will have the vaccine [01:38.28]by the start of the Olympics to make sure everyone is safe. [01:45.00]Officials are struggling to fight opposition [01:49.04]among citizens to holding the Games. [01:53.12]Recent public opinion studies in Japan [01:56.68]found that about 80 percent of those questioned [02:01.44]support canceling the Games completely or delaying them again. [02:08.32]But Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, [02:15.20]say they want to move forward with the Games. [02:20.20]They say the Olympics will be “proof [02:24.16]of human victory against the pandemic.” [02:29.56]Japan also wants to show the world it can hold the Olympics [02:33.64]before China runs the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. [02:40.80]Those Games are set to start in less than one year. [02:47.32]Japan has dealt with the pandemic better than many Western countries. [02:53.20]But a recent increase in cases has caused concern. [02:59.00]Currently, some parts of Japan [03:02.36]are under stronger restrictions than they faced during most of 2020. [03:09.44]Japan is still doing well compared to many other countries. [03:13.76]About one person out of every 100,000 is testing positive for the virus. [03:22.28]In the United States, that number is almost 25 out of 100,000. [03:30.44]One of the first Japanese people to get the vaccine was Dr. Kazuhiro Araki. [03:38.20]He is the president of the Tokyo Medical Center. [03:42.88]He said it did not hurt, adding “I hope we feel more at ease.” [03:50.64]Taro Kono is Japan’s vaccine minister. [03:54.68]He answered criticism about the slow start to the vaccination program [04:00.92]by saying it was important to show the Japanese people it would be safe. [04:09.20]“So at the end of the day we might have started slower, [04:14.04]but we think it will be more effective,” he said. [04:18.48]Japanese leaders say they are working to develop more vaccines in Japan [04:23.60]instead of using doses from other countries. [04:27.32]More vaccine will arrive next week. [04:31.44]Almost 4 million health care workers are set to be vaccinated in March. [04:37.48]Starting in April, the 36 million Japanese people aged [04:43.44]65 and older will be able to receive their shots. [04:49.52]I’m Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM