Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary stated that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will request a detailed report from the company regarding the death of a new coronavirus vaccine during clinical trials in Brazil.
In a press briefing on October 22, Katsunobu Kato said that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will continue to work on the issue, with the aim of ensuring that the vaccine is available to all Japanese citizens in the first half of next year, provided that the safety and efficacy of the vaccine are confirmed.
On October 21, the Brazilian health authorities announced the death of a Brazilian man who participated in a clinical trial of a new coronary pneumonia vaccine jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. According to Brazilian broadsheet newspapers Globo and Bloomberg, sources with knowledge of the clinical trial revealed that the man was not part of the clinical trial team that was developing the vaccine, but rather belonged to the team that put in the fake drug without the drug component.
On September 8, the Phase III human testing of AZD1222, a new coronary pneumonia vaccine jointly developed by the University of Oxford and the U.K.’s AstraZeneca, was temporarily halted after a U.K. volunteer developed symptoms consistent with “penetrating myelitis” that could be caused by the vaccine.
(head office: Kita-ku, Osaka City) said on September 4 that it has begun Phase I/II clinical trials of AZD1222, a new coronavirus vaccine, in Japan, with approximately 250 subjects aged 18 years or older. The safety and efficacy of the vaccine will be evaluated through a vaccination trial in Japan.
In London, a trial to confirm the effectiveness of the Neocrown vaccine by deliberately infecting participants in the clinical trial will be conducted starting next year. This trial, called the “Human Challenge,” involves infecting participants with the neocrown virus one month after vaccination with the neocrown vaccine. The trial, which will target 90 people between the ages of 18 and 30, has already enrolled 38,000 people worldwide, including 90 Japanese.
Katsunobu Kato, then Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, said on Aug. 7 that AstraZeneca was developing a new vaccine for coronavirus infection, and that the Japanese government had basically reached an agreement with the company to accept 120 million doses of the vaccine from early next year, including 30 million doses until the end of March next year, after the vaccine has been put into practical use.
Kato told the media on Aug. 7, “We will quickly move forward with the discussions toward a final contract, and will continue discussions with other vaccine manufacturers.” The Japanese government has also reached an agreement with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on accepting a supply of 60 million doses of vaccine.
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