Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19. (Image via The Jakarta Post)

Japan secures another dose of Pfizer vaccine

On Wednesday, the Japanese Government stated that the country will get another supply of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines for 12 million people from Pfizer Inc. The announcement came as the American vaccine from Pfizer will get its approval on 15 February.

The Health Minister, Norihisa Tamura, stated that the latest agreement with Pfizer stated that Japan will get another COVID-19 vaccine dose for 72 million people or more than half of its 126 million population. Previously, the world's third-largest economy agreed to purchase 120 million doses, enough for 60 million people. Having been reviewed by Japan's Health Ministry, the vaccine is expected to be approved in the panel meeting on the upcoming 15 February. Hence, Tamura pledged to vaccinate as many as possible by the end of the first half of 2021.

Meanwhile, the German counterpart of Pfizer, BioNTech, has also conducted clinical trials on 43,000 people abroad, and the effectiveness is proven at 95 percent. Therefore, the company will submit the result of a clinical trial on 160 Japanese people to the Health Ministry by this month.

Moreover, the Japanese Government also agreed to cooperate with AstraZeneca to procure COVID-19 vaccines enough for 60 million people, and Moderna for 25 million people. On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated earlier this week that over 39 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given in 50 countries.

Source: https://bit.ly/2KxEJ1U