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Health ministry panel to make decision on Moderna vaccine on May 20

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Sure.... Take your time on approving this. Maybe you can hold a couple of subcommittees to decide what the committees should do and will be held responsible if things go south.

After all what a difference 25 days make?

27 ( +30 / -3 )

As early as May 20

What is there actually to debate?

18 ( +21 / -3 )

I went to a doctor yesterday at a major hospital and asked about how to get the vaccine since I'm in the highest risk category. The doctor said he had nada, zero, zilch information about getting the vaccine. A pulmonologist at the biggest hospital in the region had nothing to say!!!! Absolutely mind boggling how slow Japan is.

32 ( +35 / -3 )

Health ministry panel to make decision on Moderna vaccine on May 20

Take your time... No rush!

30 ( +31 / -1 )

Take your time. Perhaps by then things will improve and you won't have to want a vax. Untested experimental vaccines that are ruining people's lives with terrible after effects and worse. Plenty of info if you know where to find it. There is no proof that the vaccinations actually work. I think that the government are aware of the dangers and are stalling on it.

-21 ( +7 / -28 )

Just think how many people could be vaccinated between now and May 20th. Japan and their shuffling of feet..is laughable.

24 ( +25 / -1 )

Speculation Consideration Consultation so how about some News JT ?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Drug approvals always take forever in Japan, the exception being for Viagra, which was fast-tracked by the middle-aged guys at the health ministry, for some reason.

28 ( +28 / -0 )

Unbelievably pathetically slow.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

“As early as”, you’re having a laugh are t you?! More than 50% of people in the UK have received at least one vaccine jab, in Japan it’s around 1%. Can we please stop using this phrase as though there’s been anything remotely good about this country’s response to the pandemic other than asking restaurants to close slightly earlier than the same time they would do anyway and opening a window.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

Unfortunately I keep thinking this will only mean more doses are going to be kept in freezers for months while vaccination efforts go on only very slowly. I would really like to see some realistic effort in increasing the infrastructure necessary for large scale vaccination on the degree seen in other countries.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

JUST UNBELIEVABLE, 5 and 1/2 to approve a vaccine that has already been approved and put in peoples arms in other major countries,

Based on this pace Imagine how long will it take Japan to develop a vaccine!?

It took scientists in the US, England, Russia and China about a year to develop, test, and release the current Vaccines.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

As usual the decision has been made already, but for some reason the circus is more important than beginning distribution as soon as possible. It has already been announced that the big center of vaccination in Tokyo is going to distribute this vaccine.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

As usual, more clowning around by inept JGov. Everything is so slow in Japan, except for the bullet trains. With these kind of decision making practices, no wonder Japan is losing competitiveness against every other country.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Other than that, JGov is warning Japanese pharmas to produce home-grown vaccines by May 20.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Is this the same panel of experts that allowed the GoTo thing and decided to close bars by 20:00 and allow crowded trains to run at max capacity?

The same panel that left the few medics and nurses struggling with the pandemic and keep testing and vaccinating people at a turtle speed?

Well,fear not people because we’re in very good hands (sarcasm)

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Quite disturbing that the AstraZeneca vaccine which is actually being produced here has fallen out of the news here since the minor problems encountered in Europe. No signs of that being approved sadly.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I understand the idea of trying to separate the vaccines so there is no confusion, but is this not also a little risky, if the moderna vaccine isn't greenlighted, or not enough supply is brought in, or vice versa. If for some reason Pfizer doesn't ship as much. They have to be flexible in regards to getting shots in arms.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"It took scientists in the US, England, Russia and China about a year to develop, test, and release the current Vaccines."

(1) In US you cannot sue vaccine producers if you have any severe vaccine side effects (pharma got blanket immunity protection). (How about Japan?)

(2) FDA approved covid vaccines on an "emergency basis".

(3) No long-time side effects from these vaccines are known. (Could ADE be a risk?)

(4) The technology behind Pfizer's and moderna's vaccines (employing mRNA to transfer a fragment of virus code to the cell to induce it to produce viral antigens) is new. what these companies created are not traditional vaccines but experimental gene therapies.

(5) Bill Gates does not want to strip IP protection from these vaccines, which has at least two effects: (a) the formulation of the vaccines cannot be independently verified; (b) poorer countries have no access to it.

Should I really rush to vaccine center?

-15 ( +2 / -17 )

@Chris Ghaar: Yes - So we all start getting back to normal. First findings are beginning to see that even transmission is reduced with mass vaccination. On BBC and Sky News this morning from UK.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

@Ashley Shiba: It doesn't even matter if your comment is correct. Its just playground banter as usual from you.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

“As early as” Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

The most predictable thing to happen in 2021 - Japan would be incredibly slow at vaccinating its population.

So very predictable.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

@theResident: There is no return to old "normal" - panta rhei.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

(1) In US you cannot sue vaccine producers if you have any severe vaccine side effects (pharma got blanket immunity protection). (How about Japan?)

But claimants still can get compensation, even better they don't have to prove the vaccine actually caused the problem, only that is in the realm of the possible. This is a huge benefit for claimants, that usually cannot prove the vaccine was the only possible cause a problem.

(2) FDA approved covid vaccines on an "emergency basis".

Which has nothing to do with them being demonstrated as safe and effective, not only on the clinical trials but on literally millions of doses already been administered all over the world.

(3) No long-time side effects from these vaccines are known. (Could ADE be a risk?)

No negative effects known from those vaccines, and plenty for the natural infection, that means that vaccines have a lower risk than COVID, simply because they less long term or permanent problems. Also ADE makes no sense as a possibility, not only because it would have been readily evident during clinical trials, but because the natural infection would be more likely to produce it, and during this year it has not been evident even after close to 150M cases.

(4) The technology behind Pfizer's and moderna's vaccines (employing mRNA to transfer a fragment of virus code to the cell to induce it to produce viral antigens) is new. what these companies created are not traditional vaccines but experimental gene therapies.

The technology has been used in hundreds of clinical trials over many years already, it is only new for people that don't follow latest scientific news, and no, mRNA can be used as gene therapy but for these vaccines there is no modification at all of the host genes or their expression. An attenuated virus would be much closer to gene therapies than mRNA vaccines.

(5) Bill Gates does not want to strip IP protection from these vaccines, which has at least two effects: (a) the formulation of the vaccines cannot be independently verified; (b) poorer countries have no access to it.

Mass spectrometry assay can perfectly find out any compound present in the vaccine, what is not possible is to reproduce it from scratch without access to all the detailed protocols, but since inactivated/recombinant vaccines can be produced without need of this technology at all and already have demonstrated to be safe and effective then they can be developed and distributed cheaply even from poorer countries, as long as they have proper laboratories. The thing is that at this point this has not been necessary because it would be more expensive and complicated to do it than getting one of the vaccines already developed.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

My wife's Japanese company CEO has now asked her(his PA) to look into the possibility of employees going overseas to be vaccinated.

He a Japanese man in his late 50s has given up on the Japanese government and seeing 90% of the staff work from home, he figures if the company can send them to another country where they can continue to work remotely and get vaccinated that would help everyone and the kicker is the company is willing to pay for it all.

That tells us how much the population and businesses have lost all confidence in the Japanese government.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

(1) In US you cannot sue vaccine producers if you have any severe vaccine side effects 

This is a trope brought up by anti vaxxers regularly.

Guess what, you can, just like any medication, but when you chose to get a vaccine (any Vaccine) or take any medication, you agree to accept that there are possible side effects, and thus your chances are limited.

Why do you think every pack of medication comes with a long list of warnings included.

The only way anyone can sue and win (and this would still apply for covid Vaccines) is if the manufacturer hid some important information from the authorities and the public which would void protection and lead to criminal charges.

So please stop the nonsense.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

The government decided to pay any family ¥14 million if any member dies from having a vaccination.

Actually this has been a long standing policy that applies to all Vaccines.

¥44 million lump sum and around ¥ 250,000 towards funeral.

That is nothing new and nothing to do with the covid Vaccine.

Again this applies to all Vaccines.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

(1) In US you cannot sue vaccine producers if you have any severe vaccine side effects 

This is a trope brought up by anti vaxxers regularly.

Guess what, you can, just like any medication, but when you chose to get a vaccine (any Vaccine) or take any medication, you agree to accept that there are possible side effects, and thus your chances are limited.

Unlike for other medicines, they can be sued only if you can prove they falsify or knowingly omit information about the vaccine. That is something that Pfizer and others have already been fined billions for.

So it's sort of in their interest to know as little as possible about them....

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

No - and the longe people like you and the other anti-vaxxers behave like this, the rest of us are indeed left in 'panta rhei'

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Unlike for other medicines, they can be sued only if you can prove they falsify or knowingly omit information about the vaccine

Again more false anti vaxxers info.

Let me correct your statement.

Like other medicines, they can be sued only if you can prove they falsify or knowingly omit information about the medication or Vaccine.

Again you cannot or will not be successful in suing if the medication warnings are factual and include the full side effects this applies to medication and Vaccines.

Again stop this false information.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

dont need thanks.

i will leave my jabs for others in line...i dont want take part in this experiment

If you are going to consider the vaccination of the public an experiment then you are already participating by refusing to take it. For any experiments you need two groups to compare, in this case for example to see the health problems in people vaccinated and unvaccinated, or on people infected with the classical strains on 2020 and with the new variants in 2021.

So it's sort of in their interest to know as little as possible about them....

That is false, because their first priority is to get validated as safe and effective, which in most countries of the world require very specific details for the different governmental bodies that process their approval. This of course means that what companies need is to show as much data as possible to demonstrate the value of the vaccine. Hiding anything would work against this purpose, and for the currently used vaccines realistically impossible with the huge amount of attention from the whole world (at least for those vaccines developed openly)

8 ( +10 / -2 )

The problem is about false balance, some places think that false, misleading participations that can easily be proved so should be protected in order to have two sides of every discussion, which obviously makes no sense.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

But , but , the delay in the vaccine rollout is due to foreign countries not delivering on time.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

planning, if, may, could, considering.

all time favorites from JP inc.'s golden dictionary.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It will be approved for sure on May 20, it is already decided.

Now, I guess Japan does not have yet the Moderna vaccine, or only a few doses, and even if approved now, it could not be administrated. That’s why there is no rush on the government’s side.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@ Antiquesaving

From a US gov site (not a "conspiracy" site) about the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program:

"The VICP was established after lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers and healthcare providers threatened to cause vaccine shortages and reduce vaccination rates."

If vaccines today are considered like every other medicine, why would this VICP be needed then? And why did big pharma lobby so strongly for it?

No need to call every you don't like as "conspiracy".

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

My wife's Japanese company CEO has now asked her(his PA) to look into the possibility of employees going overseas to be vaccinated.

A couple weeks ago I'd say go to a rural area. These days you can get appointments in the US very easily. Check out a site like vaccinatethestates or vaccinespotter and book your tickets. Literally vaccines are starting to have to be thrown out in the US in rural areas because there's a limited shelf life once you open the bottle.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

If vaccines today are considered like every other medicine, why would this VICP be needed then? 

Simple, because of people like you!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

No need to call every you don't like as "conspiracy".

Was that what you were told? Perhaps you should take the advice.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If vaccines today are considered like every other medicine, why would this VICP be needed then? And why did big pharma lobby so strongly for it?

Because differently from other safe and effective health interventions their benefit is not only personal but also the preservation of the public health, which means that promoting them bring a benefit for the population at large, if one person refuses to take an antibiotic and dies because of it, that would be the extent of the problem, for vaccines that is only the beginning of the problem so the government is responsible to protect the public health by taking out the perceived problem of a pathologic lawsuit environment (where a product can be stopped even if not a single lawsuit wins against the producers). This can be done in two ways, taking out the rights of the people to seek compensation or siding with the people so compensation is paid without the extra costs of litigation (and with a much lower burden of proof from the particulars) Obviously the best solution was the one that was taken. Safe and effective vaccines for everybody and compensation for anybody that could have been damaged even if it cannot be even proved.

Vaccine companies are as interested as the government to distribute their product, it is obvious that they push for the problem to be solved satisfactorily for everybody. In this case the difference is that government is also interested in having an immune population, which is why it takes the responsibility of the compensation.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Here's a drinking game you can play while you're sitting at home during Golden Week...

Log onto JT, go to any COVID-related article and take a drink of your favorite adult beverage anytime you read the words "may, maybe, should, probably, have to, about to, planning, discussing, deciding or thinking".

You'll be blasted within an hour and forget all about your cancelled Golden Week plans. You're welcome.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Yeah, don't want to go rushing into decisions like this half-cocked, eh?

This constant series of delays is now beyond incompetence. It's criminal negligence.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Take your time... No rush!

yeah debating about using Moderna vaccine while in the same breath trying to steal away 500 nurses to save the Olympics that the vast majority of Japanese dont even want

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@zichi

Please be more clear or the anti vaxxers will bend things out of context.

The ¥ 44 million basically everything you wrote is NOT covid Vaccine specific and has been in place for decades and applies to all Vaccines.

Unfortunately this needs to be made clear or we will have the anti vaxxers and conspiracy groups going on saying silly things.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

So let me get this straight...Japan will "decide" whether to approve the Moderna vaccine on May 20. Meanwhile, Suga order a large scale vaccine center, which will "exclusively offer Moderna" vaccine and "will launch on May 24".

https://japantoday.com/category/national/suga-orders-creation-of-large-scale-vaccination-center-in-tokyo

It really seems like the decision has already been made and is being delayed purely to coincide with the large scale vaccine center. This a such a load of crap.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

According to the Health Ministry of Hungary, which has administered 100k or more of Pfizer, Moderna, Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines, insofar as safety and efficacy, the Moderna vaccine isn't as good as the Sinopharm vaccine and is way behind Sputnik V but it is significantly better than the Pfizer vaccine.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

PaulToday 01:11 pm JST

According to the Health Ministry of Hungary,

I won't trust Orban & Co in their studies. Something like a lack of fairness.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

According to the Health Ministry of Hungary, which has administered 100k or more of Pfizer, Moderna, Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines, insofar as safety and efficacy, the Moderna vaccine isn't as good as the Sinopharm vaccine and is way behind Sputnik V but it is significantly better than the Pfizer vaccine.

There is a reason why this information is frequently qualified as "controversial". Of course it could be completely true, even if it contradicts many other sources (including Chinese), but people are understandably very interested in the data that originated those declarations, hopefully it will be released for review soon.

From a US gov site (not a "conspiracy" site) about the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program:

The part where conspiracies come is the interpretation of the text, instead of the completely obvious reason why the government would want to protect vaccines from litigation, even if they were (are) safe and effective at preventing disease, it is insinuated the reason must an invalid one. This is the same that happens with antivaxxers treatment of the perfectly valid system for the report of side effects from vaccines (VAERS), they take the reports completely out of context and present the data as if non-vaccinated people were completely free of problems, once you compare vaccinated and unvaccinated people and find no differences in the incidence of the problems is when the real importance can be seen, but antivaxxers will desperately try to hide it. This is a way to misuse valid sources for invalid purposes.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I won't trust Orban & Co in their studies. Something like a lack of fairness.

Do you believe your own eyes? See the precautions after perhaps all present have taken the Pfizer vaccine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LDSzjWKzOg

Or after most have taken Sputnik V:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjJv3lfyhg

Notice any difference? Looks like Pfizer has told someone 'our vaccine is nowhere near as effective as we are advertising.'

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

There is a reason why this information is frequently qualified as "controversial".

I know precisely why it's 'controversial'. Wall Street, Big Pharma and corporate media can't profit from the two best vaccines, #1 Sputnik V and #2 Sinopharm. Not only can they not profit, but the two best vaccines are taking profits away from Wall Street and Big Pharma. What could be more "controversial" than that?

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

I know precisely why it's 'controversial'. Wall Street, Big Pharma and corporate media can't profit from the two best vaccines, #1 Sputnik V and #2 Sinopharm. 

No, that would be your persona idea about it, the scientific community consider the information controversial because was released in complete absence of the necessary data to corroborate it and because it contradicts what has been found in other parts of the world, including the declaration of Chinese officials.

If even people that do not profit from the vaccines want a closer look at the data your theory is unnecessary, there is a much easier, logic explanation that fits much better with the observed reaction of the scientific community in general.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

A health ministry panel *may*** decide as** early as May 20 whether to approve Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for use in Japan, government sources said Tuesday, possibly paving the way for a second type of shot to be available in the country after the one developed by Pfizer Inc.

It would be funny if so much was not at stake. What exactly will they do that has not been done already?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

This just even more exposes how inept and ineffective the LDP and the Japanese way of being overly cautious is, when time is of the outmost importance. That being said, we all know that the society here will continue to vote for them, and thus continuing their reign.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Paul

You honestly think Sputnik and Sinopharm are being given to third world countries at reduced cost or free without any strings attached? That's not the way the world works. I guarantee each one of those deals extracted a pound of flesh from the third world country. A debt is owned and it will be collected.

I will point out there's no such thing as the Pfizer vaccine. It's the german BioNTech vaccine that US Pfizer and Chinese Fosun have licensed. In China it's sold as Comirnaty and colloquially described called the Fosun-BioNTech vaccine. It's extremely popular in China. So if it's good enough for millions of Chinese people why isn't it good enough for everyone else?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

PaulToday  01:48 pm JST

I won't trust Orban & Co in their studies. Something like a lack of fairness.

Do you believe your own eyes? See the precautions after perhaps all present have taken the Pfizer vaccine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LDSzjWKzOg

Or after most have taken Sputnik V:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjJv3lfyhg

Notice any difference? Looks like Pfizer has told someone 'our vaccine is nowhere near as effective as we are advertising.'

Why have you pasted in a link to "Russia Insight" and Putin's speech about Lukashenko of Balarus? Very strange.....

3 ( +5 / -2 )

This is a real fail for the Japanese authorities. They put all their money on the Olympics hoping the virus would go away. Had all that money and effort gone to vaccine development and testing, so many lives would have been saved. And still they prioritize showcasing the country's greatness with the Olympics, no matter what the cost to life saving.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Chances are higher every year from now that there is earlier 46% CO2 spared than 46% of population vaccinated. lol

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Meanwhile, we've been getting the Moderna vaccine (among others) for almost 2 months here in Japan on military bases. Crazy to think acceptable on base, still being decided off base.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Vaccine hub in center of Tokyo for people over 65?? That's the most ridiculous idea I have heard. Imagine all the 80+ year olds trying to navigate their way in on trains or maybe tour buses with walking sticks in hand. Brainless idea

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Let's see, two months to vaccinate one percent of the population. Now let's assume a max effort and double the rate of vaccination.... another 48 months to do the rest of the country. Seniors could be done in just over a year, so the rest of us start in June 2022. Better get your place in line!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Nothing like making a big announcement saying you're going to decide something later.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Why have you pasted in a link to "Russia Insight" and Putin's speech about Lukashenko of Balarus? Very strange.....

Are you serious? I didn't pay attention to the content of the speech. I paid attention to a large, packed room, including a lot of people seemingly nearing retirement age, with only a smattering of masks being used. That was in Russia where they mostly use Sputnik V.

In USA where they mostly use Pfizer, masks are a must and social distancing rigidly enforced despite them apparently already being vaccinated.

See the problem here? I think it's pretty hard to deny Pfizer has told someone, "out vaccine is nowhere near as effective as we are telling the public."

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

You honestly think Sputnik and Sinopharm are being given to third world countries at reduced cost or free without any strings attached?

I honestly have no idea. I would guess there are strings attached for countries which can't afford to pay. That would most certainly be the case for countries using Pfizer. I'm not talking about the political considerations, I'm trying to bring attention to the fact the Japanese government is buying the worst of the 4 major vaccines. I'm unhappy about it. It's even the most expensive on top of being the worst!

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

"What is there actually to debate?"

Well lets see. First are there any side effects? Is there an issue with blood clotting? Is the data we received from Moderna reliable? Just to name a few.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

So. Paul, You've missed all the news today that One, Yes One, shot of the Pfizer Vaccine brings transmission rates down 49%? Where on earth is your source and proof it's the 'worst' vaccine?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Where on earth is your source and proof it's the 'worst' vaccine?

He doesn't need proof or facts, he just says whatever he feels post bits of unfounded stuff he cuts and pastes that he thinks will look like facts.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

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