Despite high rates of vaccine scepticism, Japan has embraced the covid-19 jab: 80% of the adult population is fully vaccinated
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskSimilar misfortune befalls many Japanese women, mostly in their late 20s to 30s. Every year some 10,000 contract cervical cancer, and 3,000 die from it. Many survivors suffer infertility and other complications, such as early menopause. Yet all of this is avoidable. The human papillomavirus vaccine, first approved by America’s Food and Drug Administration in 2006, makes cervical cancer preventable. It is widely used in the rich world.
Ms Natsume became a vocal proponent of vaccination. In 2019 she decided to enter politics herself as an assemblywoman in Arakawa, a district in Tokyo. Mihara Junko, a former deputy health minister who became a politician in 2010 after surviving cervical cancer and a hysterectomy, served as a role model. Arakawa’s local government sent out brochures about the vaccine and held seminars and events.