Illustration: COVID-19 vaccine. (Image via BBC)

Japan to study cases of infection after vaccination

As the vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has rolled out, the Japanese Government is considering collecting data from infected people even after they have received the vaccination. The decision aims to see how the vaccine works against COVID-19 and prevent the spread of the virus. COVID-19 vaccine will roll out in Japan in February.

Therefore, the Health Ministry plans to create a system to collect records of all infected people that will be submitted to the public health centers to confirm whether they have COVID-19 or not. Not only COVID-19, but the system will also cover some common viral vaccination such as rubella and measles. In other words, the system allows the authorities to monitor the inoculation records of the COVID-19 patients such as the vaccine they will receive and the dose administered.

The vaccination records also served as an indicator to monitor the risk of illnesses that will help doctors and health officials to determine treatment policies. Hence, the authorities might also be able to see the change in the epidemic situation, in case there will emerge a vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant if the infection case does not go lower after the distribution of the vaccine.

As the overseas clinical trial has reported the vaccine's efficacy, the evidence of whether the vaccine protects the people from COVID-19 reoccurrence is not known yet. Not efficacy, the vaccine's effectiveness is assessed in real-world scenarios after the vaccine has been authorized for use in the population, while the efficacy is for controlled clinical trials.

Therefore, by collecting the data of vaccinated people ratio, COVID-19 patients, and their symptoms, the Ministry wants to evaluate the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and its effect on the pandemic. The doctors are obliged to inform the public health centers of the names and symptoms of COVID-19 patients.

With a population of 126 million, the Japanese Government had ordered vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca (120 million doses each), and Moderna (50 million doses). After the vaccination has been granted for domestic use, the Japanese Government will inject it to the health workers first in late February. For non-medics, the inoculation will start in late March, prioritizing people aged 65 and beyond.

Source: https://bit.ly/3qyLqjS