Japan to procure enough COVID vaccines for all eligible by end of September

There is a huge difference between getting enough vaccine and getting the vaccine in people's arms.

They are just starting refresher courses for retired nurses to administer the jabs. This should have been done weeks ago. Where are the mass vaccination centers like in the UK and US?

Japan to procure enough COVID vaccines for all eligible by end of September

"We will work on a detailed schedule," Kono said during the program.

It doesn't mean that by September all eligbile people will be inoculated, there will take another time to administer that, we already progress for this.

So far we don't hear anything about syringe supply that important for inoculation process.

From February 17 to April 9, they were only able to vaccinate 1.1 million of 4.8 million health care workers. 1.1 million over a 50-day period... absolutely staggeringly slow, about 20,000 per day. At that rate, it will take years to vaccinate the 36 million elderly, some of whom will die of coronavirus and some will die of natural causes while they are waiting.

Great, another summer shot to Hell.

The spin doctors at work again. Just like the testing "capacity" increases. Completely meaningless. When do they expect to actually vaccinate all of these people by?

Buying enough vaccines by September does not mean they will be administered by September. This is all smoke and mirrors.

Unfortunately seeing at the current situation it is clear that no significant part of the general population is going to be vaccinated in this year, authorities are still betting on the population somehow controlling the spreading in spite of all the half baked or even contradictory measures they come up with.

At this point it is still clear anybody included in the target population benefits from being vaccinated, lowering the risks from the infection is still a huge advantage anybody rational would be interested in.

Japan to procure enough COVID vaccines for all eligible by end of September

Not possible, not happening.

Considering the delays vs the rest of the world, there is no way this happens before the beginning of 2022, being that a positive outlook.

I won't be participating in the experimental shot. I'll wait to see what happens to peoples health after the next 5 years. Good luck!

Above is a fine example of the type of "thinking" that exacerbates the pandemic.

The vaccines are not experimental as they have passed multiple stages of trials. Coronavirus vaccines have been developing for years and years.

Second, the virus is always mutating and all our bodies are potentially variant producing machines. Eventually, an airborne mutation that kills children will occur. The only way to prevent this mutation is to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible.

I guess old "Yoshi" could only stay at the WH and try to ignore the fact that the US has 50% of the adult population vaccinated while Japan has less than one percent vaccinated for so long before he had to call Pfizer.... which he could have done at ANY time up to now.

My old seminarian roommate just called me. He was at Kroger buying food. Said they had a place set up where people were offering the vaccine. My roommate watched a man get the jab and sit down, 3 minutes later the man says he can't breathe and falls over. They gave him CPR until the paramedics arrived but the man was already dead. He's dead! Less than an hour ago, he was probably buying cookies for his children.

Have a REAL hard time believing this one! No news what-so-ever.

Serious fact-checking needed here!

“Suga has pledged to secure enough COVID-19 vaccines for Japan's population of 126 million within the first half of 2021.” — 12 April, Japan Trails the World in Vaccine Rollout 2 Months after Its Start, Japan Today

What will the pledge be next week? Today, the report is enough doses by the end of September. One week ago, it was “within the first half of 2021.”

Just one question, Did they remember to order needles?

since somewhere in the middle of last year they've been bruiting their deal guaranteeing hundreds of millions of doses....

Like some other commenters I am very curious as to why Japan has not been able to develop a vaccine of their own?

Expertise and money are abundant, you can see a lot of papers published every month from Japanese institutes and universities putting vaccine candidates to test up to pre-clinical trials (in animals). The problem is that the government makes it close to impossible to get approval for human trials and even worse to give a final approval for anything intended to be use in humans. It became taboo to approve anything that could later have even suspicions of having negative side effects, even if that means letting more people die without that something. This means that companies and researcher have zero incentive to develop something, only huge costs.

Another curiosity is that we are hearing about different strains of the virus coming from specific geographic locations (eg. UK and S. Africa) yet its politically incorrect or even racist to refer to the original virus by its location of origin.

You got it backwards, it has been many years that the WHO published guidelines for the naming of new pathogens and diseases, the main point is to avoid using names of places, people, etc. and instead try to make it as descriptive as possible. COVID and SARS-C0V-2 are names that follow this and the variants have also proper names that should be used ( B.1.427, B.1.429, B.1.1.7, B.1.351 etc) those are the names used in professional publications, the problem is that articles in the media are not written by experts most of the time, so they use the popular names using geographical locations, even when that is not correct nor appropriate.

A lot of people are going to die of this between now and September, and a lot more between September and whenever they actually get the vaccinations into people.

man I wish we could have just one day without the anti vaxers anti science who have NFI what their talking about

Let them have their hysterics. I think it’s therapeutic for them.

Looking after mental health is important.

* September 2021*** then, **additional months to administer. Let’s see ...

*- “Golden Week: Showa Day** – April 29; Constitution Day – May 3; Greenery Day – May 4; Children’s Day – May 5: then, Obon Festival (Tokyo, Kanto, and Tohoku Regions) July 13–16; Sea Day/Marine Day – July 22; Sports Day – July 23: Mountain Day – August 8; Obon Festival (Most other regions of Japan) August 13–16; Obon Festival (Mainly Okinawa, also Northern Kanto, Shikoku, and Chugoku) August 20–22; Respect for the Aged Day – Sept 20; Autumnal Equinox Day – Sept 23, Culture Day – Nov 3; Labor Thanksgiving Day – Nov 23” and then, a New Year starts again...” -*

In the meantime, what will everyone do? “Stay Home”?

I really wish this was true, but I know better than to expect anything done this year, maybe even next. Now they are preparing to cancel the games, so there is even less incentive to vaccinate people.

On the other hand, reading the comments here it is obvious a lot of people are making an effort to instill fear of vaccines as if they were not already proven safe. Maybe if enough people believe the lies (it may cause cancer, it killed the experimental animals, they are not approved so they are not safe, etc.) the easily manipulated people can leave enough of the current vaccine for those that are rational enough to know better.

Procure enough vaccines by September? So it looks like we MIGHT get vaccinated by the end of the year? Lol

allowing the country to procure enough doses by the end of September to inoculate all eligible residents

They already bought enough doses of several vaccines to inoculate everybody. What happen to the others vaccines ? Like Astra and Moderna which are waiting for approval ? If they are not going to approve Astra since they are already producing it, I hope they will at least continue to produce it for countries which want it moreover since now India is in a difficult situation and will have trouble producing for itself and other.

38% of Japanese adults don't want the vaccine so that will save 41 million doses (x2) and speed up the process quite a bit.

reference: The Guardian

*Half of the respondents to a recent poll by the public broadcaster NHK said they wanted to be immunised against Covid-19, *but 38% said they did not intend to have the vaccine.

Kono. A fine appointment by Suga. Hopefully, in the future, both will find suitable employment outside of government or simply retire. Neither is capable of managing the acquisition of a suitable and timely supply of the needed vaccine. Let alone implementing a vaccination program.

September? Incredible. Suga 'promised' to have 35 million individuals inoculated in April.

Japan to procure enough COVID vaccines by end of September...to inoculate all eligible residents.

So how do we know who is eligible??

To end of september there will be other strain of virus and propably europe will start to produce other version of vaccine. Bit too late Japan, AstraZeneca has good protection against British variant but its weak against African one. Now there is new Indian strain.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is like double jeopardy. Poor efficacy and very dangerous.

Even if every danger suspected from the vaccine was confirmed it would still unbelievable safer compared with the natural infection, that makes it still very useful. The problem of this vaccine is that other options appear to be better now, so it is a case of good enough, just not the best.

Seems the latest variant from India isn't being blocked by these inoculations.

That is not yet a valid conclusion from the evidence, one thing is to be on your guard for new variants that will appear, so you can quickly identify escape mutants, another completely different is to blindly assume having cases of that variant can only mean the vaccines are not acting against it.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-no-evidence-indian-variant-can-get-around-vaccines-minister-says-12279043

Interesting, when will Japan open up to tourists? 2022 or 2023?

I'd take the Chinese vaccines as well as Sputnik V. According to many countries on every continent except Australasia, the Chinese vaccine is perfectly safe. Sputnik V is on another level. Perfectly safe and highly effective. Cheap and easy to deploy is a bonus.

What on earth are you talking about?!? The Pfizer vaccine you are decrying is the exact same as the Chinese Fosun vaccine. Fosun licensed it from German drug maker BioNTech just like Pfizer. So would you take the Fosun vaccine? It is the exact same vaccine as Pfizer.

I don't understand your love of Sputnik. It's two different vaccines. First vaccine is rAd26 vaccine which is what J&J is based on. Second dose is rAd5. Not a bad idea per se on boosting effectiveness, but is more complicated to distribute. In terms of how well is works and if it's safe? It's been 8 months and Russia still refuses to release primary data. They publish studies but never any of the underlining data. If it's such a great vaccine why won't your people release the data? Surely it must stand on it's own?

On his desk plan no relying at all.

Now , formidable for the UK virus. TheUK&US is massive vaccinating .

He has not a leg stand on anymore.

Japan anything goes from behind all the time not only vaccine .

Better late than never.

Pfizer and the other vaccine developers have done a great job at ramping up production.

AlexToday: Maybe this was addressed in some other threads, but I'm just curious, why wouldn't Japan just come up with its own vaccine? It has the knowledge and resources, right? Or am I missing something?

Although the government has committed hundreds of billions of yen for a game-changing medicine in the novel coronavirus pandemic, the domestic industry is just not set up for speedy vaccine development, and such projects have long been a low priority for Japanese pharmaceutical businesses.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14086012

This is incredibly frustrating because as many people have pointed out, procuring the vaccines and getting them into people are 2 different things.

The lack of leadership and lack of sense of emergency is what is really fueling the problem now. For example, if they wanted to, they could train people in the medical field (such as school nurses, care workers for the elderly, last year of medical school students, etc.) on how to give and monitor the vaccines. This would speed it up immensely. They could also allow for more temporary immigration from Filipino nurses or Vietnamese nurses. They could dispatch people to nursing homes more often. They can make a back up list of people who could get the vaccine for that day, and use them on the backup list people if the originally scheduled people don't come.

There are so many ways to make this vaccine roll out more effective, but there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency with the government. The only thing keeping the coronavirus under control in Japan is the people, and not anything from the government. The ridiculous stay at home measures are fine but the main problem is the workplaces and schools. The government refuses to say anything about that, so these waves are just neverending.

First, I have no clue how Kono or Suga translate Bourla's comment about "increasing consultations" and working with the J government to a definite commitment to vaccinate everyone in Japan, especially when Pfizer may be one of only 2 manufacturers if AZ and J&J get sidelined.

Second, if Japan were really serious about vaccinating, they would approve at least Moderna right away.

Lies upon lies upon lies.

Good question. If it's the same as the Pfizer vaccine, no, I wouldn't take it. Who in their right mind would?

I've already had my second dose. Haven't turned into a Zombie yet. Glad I'm not in Japan right now. Sad I won't be able to return for quite a while. There is not such thing as the Pfizer Vaccine. They licensed a German Vaccine BioNTech. Other companies also licensed the same vaccine including Fosum in China.

They are going to need another shot inside 12 months, according to the company CEO himself.

That's pretty much every vaccine. Because people can't control themselves in terms of social distancing and masking we have all sorts of variants and mutations. Several Vaccine makers have new versions that take into account in human trials. No matter what vaccine you get this year you'll need a booster or some sort within 12 months.

Insofar as Sputnik V, they have released all the data.

That's demonstrably untrue. There's never been a release of the primary data. That being said, I think Sputnik V works, but it's likely similar to J&J in effectiveness. That's good enough. Be that as it may the vast majority of Russians don't trust it. The vaccinations rates in Russia are very concerning. Moscow is doing less than 20K vaccinations a day. They aren't going to hit their July target. Which is likely why Russians are pushing it internationally. No one if Russia cares if they send vaccine overseas.

That’s all very questionable, considering bureaucratic rules like filling in forms, checking social insurance, make protocols before and after the several vaccination shots, doctor-patient interviews to avoid side effects, the distributing to many vaccination points, but a permanent lack of staff and all such. Even at a rate of only 1 minute for every patient...take your little calculator out of the package and see for yourself how much time that already would take, only possible to speed up at the cost of many people just not or denying to be vaccinated.

Does anyone have any news about the Osaka vaccine?

I am talking about AG0302-COVID-19. According to wikipedia, it is already in phase 3 of implementation. And it is the most advanced Japanese vaccine.

Interesting, when will Japan open up to tourists? 2022 or 2023?

Are you joking, are you? I can see Japanese wearing masks to the end of days and tourists being banned 'for years to come'. Imagine how difficult will be for these people to take their masks off, worrying of what their neighbour must think about that. No one will want to move first for fear of being singled out.It's the Japanese psyche, what your neighbour thinks about you is by far more important of your own ability to take informed decisions. Despair not: we do not need a vaccine to travel, or stay here forever, it's enough you accept to quarantine for some days, 5 to 10, usually. Not ideal for a short holiday, but if you have time on hand and are the nomadic type of tourist, then I wouldn't worry so much about a vaccine. The UK will next week announce the list of countries for their 'traffic light' system, Japan should be amber (tests pre and post flights, plus quarantine required), with only Israel, the USA, Taiwan and not many more in the green category. Gone are the days when this government got away with presenting a fake facade and Japanese travellers were welcomed the world over. We all know now they can't control the virus any better than us, it's what they wanted you to believe, Mr Aso and friends, in fact they are doing a far worse job. But you can't hide failure in the age of the internet. To top it all up, they are now organising the most laughable games, Japanese not Olympics, in which they are also banning themselves from attending them, honestly it's happening, just as in the UK and USA are starting to readmit crowds to sporting events. Next thing we can expect, all athletes will be banned, only Mr Suga and his cabinet will participate, I mean... "they have a plan for it on which they are working", it will happen, in September perhaps, in time for the Pfizers vaccines to arrive :)

You cannot deny it's incredibly entertaining

I guess we're not going to discuss the fact that Kono and Suga both claimed a few weeks ago that ALL people in Japan would be vaccinated by the end of June?

“. At that rate, it will take years to vaccinate the 36 million elderly, some of whom will die of coronavirus and some will die of natural causes while they are waiting.”

And some of whom - unfortunately - used to die of the flu every winter. But that virus has magically disappeared

Yet another misleading headline and misleading article. Bourla did not commit to providing enough vaccine to vaccinate all Japanese. He indicated increased consultation and cooperation with Japan. Some media sources refer to "substantial agreement", which is not legally binding.

Why doesn't Japan just hurry up and approve Moderna! That would give them 2 sources of supply.

Japan COULD vaccinate everyone if it really wanted to and it COULD test on a large scale if it really wanted.

Pretty plain that it doesn't want to do either.

First it was April......then May. then June...........now September?

What are they doing? Singing the months of the year song?

How about you geniuses stop quoting dates and time lines or whatever it is that you think you're doing, and just get the VAX out to the public!

Enough already.

Maybe this was addressed in some other threads, but I'm just curious, why wouldn't Japan just come up with its own vaccine? It has the knowledge and resources, right? Or am I missing something?

September? How many will die by then?

I hear on very good authority that public health clinics in Chiba prefecture are going to start "mass vaccinations" from this Tuesday. "Mass" meaning a lot more than at present ( not difficult!) but not quite up to UK standards. They will increase the numbers "considerably" by the end of April

This should be the case for other prefectures also. But there is zero chance of everyone being vaccinated by the end of September, or even end of the year.

So far we don't hear anything about syringe supply that important for inoculation process.

There was a news item a week or two ago that at least one domestic firm has already started producing a low dead-volume syringe for such use.

Perhaps *@*Paul 4:13pm needs more participation in His impromptu “poll” of the likelihood of mass vaccinations* coming and starting in September 2021? (**Just as reliable as any other poll we see here*)

*- “How many of you think it will actually happen? [Vote] + UP for LIKELY, - DOWN for UNLIKELY”*

4:15am: -35 ( +2 / -37 ) 12-14 hours later an the “Unlikely” votes are as anticipated.

I wouldn't have a Russian produced vaccine. It might contain polonium.

Too little too late. A ringisho bureaucracy staffed and lead by old and incompetent men. Japan has the ability to move fast but only when money is passed under the table

If you want to follow the science, listen to Governor Desantis of Florida. They have fared very well despite almost half their population being elderly. He advises to protect the vulnerable and open up.

Japan is in good shape folks. Behind on the vaccines, yes, but overall it has fared very well against COVID.

The big milestone is getting the vulnerable people vaccinated as they are the ones that can end up in the hospital.

At this rate the old codgers will be lining up for their 2022 dose before poor old Taro even gets a sniff.

What on earth are you talking about?!? The Pfizer vaccine you are decrying is the exact same as the Chinese Fosun vaccine. Fosun licensed it from German drug maker BioNTech just like Pfizer. So would you take the Fosun vaccine? It is the exact same vaccine as Pfizer.

I don't understand your love of Sputnik. It's two different vaccines. First vaccine is rAd26 vaccine which is what J&J is based on. Second dose is rAd5. Not a bad idea per se on boosting effectiveness, but is more complicated to distribute. In terms of how well is works and if it's safe? It's been 8 months and Russia still refuses to release primary data. They publish studies but never any of the underlining data. If it's such a great vaccine why won't your people release the data? Surely it must stand on it's own?

Good question. If it's the same as the Pfizer vaccine, no, I wouldn't take it. Who in their right mind would? They are going to need another shot inside 12 months, according to the company CEO himself. I know there are two Chinese vaccines. At least one of them is a product of Chinese technology. It's not as effective as the Pfizer vaccine (apparently) but very safe.

Insofar as Sputnik V, they have released all the data. Not only in Russia but in several countries. The extremely high efficacy and safety has been empirically demonstrated. I know a state owned lab in Russian "out scienceing" Big Pharma upsets some people but they should get used to the idea. It's hardly unique.

So basically I don't get to take my kid to see his grandparents in Japan for another year, because they aren't going to finish giving everybody shots until this time next year.

All our friends and family members in the States will get their yearly boosters before most of us here in Japan will even get their first jab let alone the second.

It appears except for Suga, none of will be doing international travel within the next 7 years or so into the future.

Half a million cases and close to 10,000 deaths, even under very important life changing measures in place would prove you wrong.

Half a million confirmed infections. Considering many have been complaining for a year on how difficult it was to get tested, I wonder what the actual infection number is.

5 million? 50 million? So I wonder how many actually need a vaccine...

Like some other commenters I am very curious as to why Japan has not been able to develop a vaccine of their own? It seems the third largest economy with a system designed around providing national health care would be able to pull this off. Is there a lack of pharmaceutical expertise in Japan? Is there an over reliance on foreign companies and manufacturing capacity? I think a lot of countries have recognized the shortcomings of the international economic system during this crisis- I certainly have.

Bit too late Japan, AstraZeneca has good protection against British variant but its weak against African one. Now there is new Indian strain.

Another curiosity is that we are hearing about different strains of the virus coming from specific geographic locations (eg. UK and S. Africa) yet its politically incorrect or even racist to refer to the original virus by its location of origin. The CCP’s propaganda machine scored a huge victory convincing the world its racist to refer to the original virus by its location of origin yet no one has a problem referring to the variants in this way.

Seems the latest variant from India isn't being blocked by these inoculations.

@virusrex: This means that companies and researcher have zero incentive to develop something, only huge costs.

Thanks for an explanation. I suspected that bureaucratic inertia and indecision might be a leading cause and I think this is likely the case. What’s so odd about such risk v. benefit analysis is that other medicines are proven to be much more dangerous. For example: the J&J vaccine has a one in a million incidence of blood clots. But birth control medication has a one in a thousand incidence of blood clots. It should be noted that there is a greater likelihood of blood clots as a result of pregnancy. The Biden administration in the US is also taking the same anti-science view and has paused use of the J&J vaccine.

You got it backwards, it has been many years that the WHO published guidelines for the naming of new pathogens and diseases, the main point is to avoid using names of places, people, etc. and instead try to make it as descriptive as possible.

That doesn’t explain why the media still refers to the Spanish flu and the UK and South African covid variants but China virus is verboten. Even people in the medical field use these location specific terms. The media made this happen - not the WHO guidelines.

To end of september there will be other strain of virus and propably europe will start to produce other version of vaccine. Bit too late Japan, AstraZeneca has good protection against British variant but its weak against African one. Now there is new Indian strain.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is like double jeopardy. Poor efficacy and very dangerous.

Do as we tell you: Take your "vaccine" and be obedient! :)

Good one. In the UK the vast majority have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. In Malawi, they couldn't give away their AstraZeneca vaccines so ended up throwing the away.

Well, when you have people like the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance cashing in several million worth of shares from big pharma, I wonder what he recommended...

Well that's just great. According to Pfizer itself, by the time the first recipients of the vaccine are once again susceptible the mid range recipients will be getting vaccinated for the first time.

It's time for the Japanese government to pick a side. China is Japan's No,1 trading partner by some distance and moving further ahead all rivals. Japan doesn't need to buy the Anglo-American dud vaccines any longer.

The vaccines are not experimental as they have passed multiple stages of trials. Coronavirus vaccines have been developing for years and years.

The vaccines have not yet received FDA approval. They have only received authorization for emergency use. The same authorization as two other vaccines that have been banned/halted in some countries due to severe adverse effects.

Coronavirus vaccines have been developing for years and years.

Attempts to get vaccines for the previous SARSCoV were disastrous (deadly) in animal trials.

Second, the virus is always mutating and all our bodies are potentially variant producing machines. Eventually, an airborne mutation that kills children will occur. The only way to prevent this mutation is to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible.

It's not really the virus that kills, but rather the immune system's response to it or its remnants. The best thing to do is to maximize the health of your immune system. Several experts have warned us of the potential negative effects of these vaccines on our innate immune system. Vaccination is not the only way to end this, for the vast majority of us it is not the best way, and might in fact be the worst way.

Take your vaccine and get sick or not your choice kentaro chan.

ROFL

38% of Japanese adults don't want the vaccine

Don't want the Pfizer dud. Why would they? Even if they trust its safety over and above the virus, in 6 months they'll have to get it again!

We need to organize "vaccine flights" to Vladivostok or Khabarovsk. They are doing it in Europe already.

It just keeps getting worse........ Japan is not under the control of Japanese people but under the control of USA Big Pharma and Wall Street.

This wretched vaccine has gone from "95% effective to for over 2 years and 100% effective against severe illness" to "about 90% effective for 9~12 months" and all menion of 100% effective against severe infection has been dropped. Big Pharma and Wall Street is having a laugh at the expense of Japan.

Sputnik V is the only and most obvious solution to this crisis! It costs about 1/10th of the Pfizer dud. If the Russians renamed it "Freedom Vaccine" would the Japanese government possibly but it?

My old seminarian roommate just called me. He was at Kroger buying food. Said they had a place set up where people were offering the vaccine. My roommate watched a man get the jab and sit down, 3 minutes later the man says he can't breathe and falls over. They gave him CPR until the paramedics arrived but the man was already dead. He's dead! Less than an hour ago, he was probably buying cookies for his children.

His wife was with him. She watched him die, as she screamed for someone to help.

The lesson: don't permit people to inject things in your body that are provided by lunatics who want to depopulate the Earth. Here is another eyewitness account of people collapsing within minutes of getting the Moderna mutative.

The damning thing is the way the administration system is set up with an enforced 15-minute post-injection waiting period and CPR-trained medics on hand. This proves those administering the mutatives know there is a not-insignificant chance of very serious adverse effects.

I won't be participating in the experimental shot. I'll wait to see what happens to peoples health after the next 5 years. Good luck!

@GdTokyo

summer isn't cancelled. You can go out! I was going out EVERYDAY since the pandemic..my family never had issues. Yes I wore a mask, but my life never changed. In fact I am outside now, at my home in mexico not wearing a mask and not have had a COVID shot. I am alive and well. Have no fear!

How many of you think it will actually happen?

UP evaluation for LIKELY

DOWN evaluation for UNLIKELY