The Japanese government will boost financial incentives for clinics to administer COVID-19 vaccines and consider expanding the pool of medical professionals allowed to give the shots to paramedics and clinical laboratory technicians, its top spokesman said Tuesday.

The move comes as the country rushes to ramp up its sluggish inoculation program and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga mulls extending the state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas with just two months until the Tokyo Olympics.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a press conference the government will increase the payments of 2,070 yen ($19) that clinics currently receive for every dose of COVID-19 vaccine they administer to 4,070 yen for facilities that give 100 or more shots per week over a span of four weeks, and to 5,070 yen for those that give 150 or more shots.

Clinics and hospitals that administer 50 or more doses per day will receive 100,000 yen per day and be further compensated for dispatching doctors and nurses to other medical facilities that are understaffed.

Suga, who has suffered a drop in public support amid dissatisfaction with his pandemic response, decided on the measures after meeting with members of his Cabinet including health minister Norihisa Tamura and vaccine czar Taro Kono in the morning.

Japan launched its inoculation drive in February starting with health care workers and later expanding to people aged 65 and older, but the effort has been held up by a dearth of doctors and nurses to administer shots.

Just over 5 percent of the country's population of 126 million has received at least one dose, while only about 2 percent are fully vaccinated.

Paramedics and clinical laboratory technicians join dentists on the list of medical professionals who could be authorized to give shots.

Kato said 40,000 of the 64,000 certified paramedics in the country are firefighters and 66,000 of the 200,000 licensed as clinical laboratory technicians already work at medical facilities, but added they should not join the inoculation effort at the expense of their normal duties.

Pharmacists, who Kono had previously suggested could also be called upon, and radiological technologists will play supporting roles such as monitoring people who have received shots for side effects, Kato said.