The reality of the vaccine byte, which continues to increase in value

With the arrival of the 8th wave of coronas, the government is calling for active vaccination of the public under the banner of “Don’t stop the economy! the government is calling for aggressive vaccination of the public. The government is spending a large amount of money to promote this movement, but did you know that there is a certain “bubble” in the medical industry as a result? Vaccinators are being paid “remuneration” amounting to several hundred thousand yen a day in some cases.

Fumio Sadota (pseudonym), director of a Tokyo hospital, reveals the unknown reality of “vaccine part-timers.

As a countermeasure against the new coronavirus, the government has been promoting further vaccinations since this October. The government has set a policy to rapidly proceed with the fifth vaccination for the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, the fourth vaccination for the general public, and the expansion of the age range for childhood vaccination (6 months to 4 years old) by the end of the year.

Expanding vaccination is the right thing to do as a measure against infection. It is also necessary to promote vaccinations in order to keep the economy moving.

However, did you also know that the budget being invested in this area is also ballooning?　Mass vaccinations have resumed everywhere, and due in part to the rapid pace of vaccination, a tremendous amount of money is being spent to secure doctors who can administer the vaccine.

One of the reasons for this is, of course, the lack of enough vaccinators, but some of the doctors who are the vaccinators have learned that the longer they wait, the more they are paid, so they are applying for projects that pay 150,000 to 200,000 yen per day (20,000 to 25,000 yen per hour). Therefore, some people did not raise their hands to apply for the 150,000 to 200,000 yen per day (20,000 to 25,000 yen per hour) projects, and waited until the price went up. Because of this, compensation to doctors has been rising steadily.

As a result of such a steep rise, the daily allowance can be as high as 500,000 yen. As one might expect, the number of applications for the vaccine is flooding in less than a minute, but it seems that the doctors who are in charge of administering the vaccine have learned to balance supply and demand.

When the vaccine was first introduced in Japan in May 2021, many physicians were conscious of “contributing to public health by contributing to the prevention of new coronavirus infection,” and once the application process began, applications were closed within minutes, regardless of compensation.

Perhaps the medical side has become too accustomed to “with coronas,” and this reality has now faded away.

In November, the demand for vaccinations peaked, and the shortage of shots also progressed. The result was an unprecedented “corona vaccine bubble,” with prices ranging from 400,000 yen to 750,000 yen in Tokyo, 500,000 yen per day in Chiba Prefecture, and 600,000 yen in the Tohoku region.

As if caught in this bubble, compensation for influenza vaccinations and health checkups, which are being administered simultaneously, also rose again, and some are now earning as much as ¥30,000 per hour.

As this phenomenon continues day after day, the profits of human resource companies that introduce physicians have increased considerably, and some companies have seen their stock prices soar in tandem with the skyrocketing prices of vaccine fees.

However, bubbles must burst someday. The vaccine bubble in the medical world will burst with the end of Corona. At that time, I have a feeling that something bad will happen to the medical community in Japan, as doctors who have become accustomed to high compensation will be engaged in their work with what kind of values?

Again, it is important to promote vaccination. Also, many doctors are not happy with the “high fees for vaccination. However, it is also true that some physicians have taken advantage of the government’s impatience. We cannot afford to delay vaccination, nor can we tolerate moral hazard. This is an abhorrent problem that the coronas have created.