Japan, which used to be on the forefront of vaccine development only 30 years ago, seemingly would have lost the power. Currently, Japan is far behind other developed countries in the way of developing the vaccine against the coronavirus. Four to five companies are striving to develop the vaccine and one of them is said to roll out a vaccine at the end of this year. The pandemic in Japan was milder than that of other countries, so the delivery of the vaccine was apparently delayed. Consequently, the vaccination isn't going well even now in Japan.
First off, the vaccination started with medical personnel, then the next was elderly people. As I'm a doctor, I was sounded out about the vaccination myself, but I'm an occupational doctor now and I don't inoculate, so I refused politely to accept the vaccination and passed the vaccine for me to another who actually copes with patients.
After the delivery started, the government noticed that they are short of doctors who inoculate people against coronavirus. I was disgusted to know the government's inattention. The action of the government was too late. They started to look for nurses who have the license yet no job. Additionally they started to ask dentists to inoculate. It's just like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
I don't know if the government was aware of the existence of occupational doctors, but the occupational doctors were excluded from the vaccination. However, the government finally seemed to notice that there are lots of doctors in the industrial sectors, and I was asked if I can help them. I felt as if I was caught by it during hide-and-seek.
(Vocabulary)
in/at the forefront (of something) （＜…＞の）最前線で, 最先端で
sound out «…について»A〈人〉にどう考えているか打診する«about, on»
My boss sounded me out about moving to Hokkaido. 上司が北海道への転勤の打診をしてきた.
bolt [自] 〈人・動物が〉 急に駆け出す［逃げ出す］
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