Some of Japan’s opposition MPs finally oppose jabs for kids

Japan’s MPs have been conspicuously useless at doing their jobs since early 2020 and have done little to oppose the government’s unholy trinity of masks, restrictions, and mRNA injections. So I was pleasantly surprised to see 25 MPs finally do something to justify their salaries.

Cross-party group of MPs requests retraction of “non-binding obligation” for child vaccination

I previously explained the government’s decision to strengthen its recommendation for the jabs for 5-11 year olds.

Child sacrifice: Japan to strengthen its recommendation for Covid shots for kids

The cross-party group is requesting that the government not only retract its stronger recommendation for jabs for 5-11 year olds but also shelve any plans to approve jabs for 6-month to 4-year olds.

According to the Sankei Shimbun, the group submitted a motion about vaccinating children saying “Cases of severe adverse effects and deaths after vaccination have been reported”; “Medium-term and long-term effects are unknown, so there’s a risk of future harms to health”; “Places such as the U.K. have moved to taking a cautious stance towards vaccinating children by restricting the vaccines to certain groups”.

All true. So will this motion make any difference? Probably not. For a start, the group primarily consists of 15 MPs from the Constitutional Democratic Party, a centre-left opposition party. Nine others are either from smaller opposition parties or are independents. Only 1 comes from the ruling LDP/Komeito coalition: an LPD MP. Without more LDP/Komeito MPs, the group has little chance of success.

Also, national TV doesn’t seem to have reported the motion, which means that you, dear reader, are more informed about this than the vast majority of Japanese. The importance of TV coverage is summed up by the striking correlation between the 5-11 jab rate and NHK fee payment rate among Japanese prefectures.

Making Waves @MakingC19Waves

Here’s the correlation for the 5-11 Covid 💉 rate (left) and NHK (Japan’s BBC) fee payment rate (bottom). Propaganda works.

okhotska @0kh0tska

@Logo_Wo @ter0316 @keikaikou @donkey13992730 @coken111 @xjR1BqbrppuegLj @WfrtqlEI71tDvc5 @s0ftqbEJBEzhK2S @kyo_twit @Z8ZLQj8YJEfwai8 @cr_cidp NHK支払い率は３回接種率にも相関がありましたが、子供の接種率にも相関があります。直線近似より指数関数の方が合います。 https://t.co/7kDhtZAGX9

This also explains why in Japan, Covid vaccines and authoritarian restrictions are most popular among the rural elderly: they’re much more likely to watch and believe TV’s BS than the urban young.

So the motion is a worthwhile initiative. But as far as the average TV viewer goes, it might as well have not happened. And as long as the Japanese keep trusting TV, The Covid Show will stay on the air.