Japan launched a vaccination program on Wednesday (17), with 40,000 health care workers taking the lead in injecting vaccines developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech.
The Prime Minister’s Office said on Saturday (20) that there was a suspected case of allergic side effects after the injection in Toyama Prefecture, the first in the country; people were urged to stay at the vaccination center for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine to facilitate medical observation.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said it will continue to collect information on cases of similar side effects and advise people to stay at the vaccination center for a period of Time after vaccination. In Japan, 5,000 people have received the Pfizer vaccine so far, and 4.7 million people will be vaccinated in the next phase; more than 30 million people in the Tokyo metropolitan area began receiving the vaccine in April, with priority given to the elderly over 65.
The Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine approved for use in Japan, and the second batch of 450,000 doses will arrive next Sunday (21st). The vaccine, developed by Oxford University and British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, has been submitted to The Japanese government for marketing.
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