堀内ワクチン相退任へ　兼務候補に後藤、松野氏ら―岸田首相調整

　岸田文雄首相は、堀内詔子ワクチン担当相を３月末で退任させる方向で調整に入った。堀内氏が兼務する五輪担当相の設置期限を迎え、閣僚数が１人減ることに伴う措置。ワクチン担当相は後藤茂之厚生労働相や松野博一官房長官などに兼務させる案が挙がっている。
　政府関係者が２４日、明らかにした。内閣法は閣僚数を１７人以内と定めているが、２０１２年に復興相、１５年に五輪相、２０年から万博相が期間限定で設置され、現在は２０人となっている。
　堀内氏は岸田派の衆院当選４回で、昨年１０月に若手・女性からの抜てき人事として初入閣した。新型コロナウイルスワクチンの３回目接種を推進してきたが、国会答弁を不安視する声もあった。（2022/03/24-18:04）

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to have Noriko Horiuchi, minister in charge of COVID-19 vaccinations, leave his cabinet at the end of March, government sources said Thursday.
   There are plans to have health minister Shigeyuki Goto or Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno double as vaccination minister, according to the sources.
   The move comes as the post of minister for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, held in summer 2021, which Horiuchi currently doubles as, is set to expire at the end of the month.
   While the cabinet law limits the number of cabinet members to 17 or less, Kishida's cabinet now has 20 members, including those in the three temporary posts of reconstruction minister, Olympics and Paralympics minister and minister for the 2025 World Exposition in the western city of Osaka, which were created in 2012, 2015 and 2020, respectively.
   Horiuchi, who has been elected four times to the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, and belongs to the Kishida-led faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, assumed her first cabinet post in October last year.