Japan may approve 2nd COVID-19 vaccine in May: health minister

Forcing one to take the vaccination is something I am going to challenge in the Courts if needs be.

Being told you need to take something, that is going to .. given a known personal medical issue, is going to cause you significant issues, is something that should not be allowed.

How many more serious reactions (without compensation) do we need to see before something is done?

@Tokyoite

Even if @Strangerland's numbers are off.

During the same period you pointed out the UK deaths were between 487 and 158 per day ( March 2 ~ 6)

And that is with half the population of Japan and with Japan having 28%+ of it's population being over 65 and the UK having only 18%+.

On top of that the UK has vaccinated far more of it's population because it has refused to permit export of any Vaccine while at the same time importing more from the EU.

So despite it's selfish response to the world it is still doing far far worse than Japan regardless if which way you look at it.

StrangerlandToday  12:54 am JST

That's about one third of the population; just remind me about how we are doing here in Japan in this regard?

Well, the UK is averaging about 150 deaths/day right now, while Japan is averaging about 6.

Not accurate sadly. Here are some recent stats from the death rate in Japan:

6th March 2021: 40 deaths

5th March 2021: 55 deaths

4th March 2021: 55 deaths

3rd March 2021: 63 deaths

2nd March 2021: 65 deaths

The source of this is the Asahi Shinbun daily COVID-19 cases report. I am curious as to what source you are relying on?

My bad, the 7-day average is 48/day.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has repeatedly said vaccinations are a decisive step to bring the pandemic under control as early as possible.

This is all he can do as a leader? State the obvious?

That's about one third of the population; just remind me about how we are doing here in Japan in this regard?

Well, the UK is averaging about 150 deaths/day right now, while Japan is averaging about 6.

Vaccine's are on the way. In the meantime, everyone should follow the advice of medical '"experts" and wear as many masks as humanly possible.

@Harry_Gatto

Yes the UK , EU and USA.

Great comparison.

2 places that refused to export any Vaccine or help anyone else.

And one place that has blocked exports ever time it feels it needs more Vaccine for itself.

Like The EU blocking exports this week to Australia while Germany gets more Pfizer because it won't use the millions of doses is AZ it already has because they don't like it. Oh and they are not given that AZ to anyone else either.

Have just read that "More than 20 million people in the UK have had a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. This includes nine of out 10 people aged 65 and over, ......"

That's about one third of the population; just remind me about how we are doing here in Japan in this regard?

Tamura said the government would be ready to consider an application by Johnson & Johnson for its single-dose vaccine if one is filed. But it has yet to decide on whether to purchase the vaccine as it is still a matter for discussion, he said.

Maybe J&J is waiting for the order first before making the application

A friend in a Japanese Vaccine production facility said they are already producing the AZ vaccine here.

Great!

the slow process where a doctor has to spend 5 minutes explaining what a needle is and what a vaccine is to everyone.

Sorry where did you get that information from?

My local doctor has already told us that the city has been in contact with him to be a Covid vaccination location once non Pfizer Vaccine is available.

He is already the city authorised influenza vaccination location for city funded vaccinations.

As far as I understood it will proceed almost exactly like the flu vaccination but his physiotherapy section will be used for 1 hour observation during the first roll out to the public.

If you read or have any knowledge of this 5 minutes explanation thing please let us know.

Now I do know that for other things where prior explanations are needed this is usually done in a large room with many many people in a sort of group explanation style.

During the annual health check again my local doctor's physiotherapy room ( quite large open space) is where this information session takes place.

I expect that something similar will be done.

Again if you have other information please tell us and where it comes from.

Japan has been really lagging in terms of Covid-19 testing, vaccine development, vaccine approval and from the looks of it, it will probably take years for Japan to inoculate a good portion of its population because of the slow process where a doctor has to spend 5 minutes explaining what a needle is and what a vaccine is to everyone.

A friend in a Japanese Vaccine production facility said they are already producing the AZ vaccine here.

So we may just may see a sharp increase in vaccinations once approved.

Again that is a big maybe.

But Australia is saying the same thing, once domestic production gets going waiting time to get vaccinated will drop very fast as supplies will be domestic and not subject to the EU exports restitutions.

UK studies and some other countries are now looking at either extending the period between the first and second shot or eliminating the second dose for Pfizer and AZ.

Multiple reasons.

But effectiveness of both after the first shot is equal to the single J&J Vaccine so if J&J is ok then a single dose of these should be fine.

The other reasons are better to have more vaccinated with a 60% to 75% effectiveness than half that at 80% to 90%.

And finally most experts say a booster shot of a variant adjusted version of the vaccine will probably be needed so might as well make that the second dose.

I will be honest, I would rather have a single dose as soon as possible than wait a long time to get 2 doses.

Guess they just expect us to gaman forever, the Japanese National pastime

Considering all the daily announcements without any significant testing or vaccinations they already now deserve an Olympic gold medal....lol

I wonder why this kind of "sapling in the wind" indecision gets reported. Doesn't the "health minister" have the cohones to make a decision?

At this rate, we'll still be wearing masks right through next winter too.

If other countries or airlines want vaccine passports, don't expect to travel overseas either.

Hurry up.

May? June? The university semester will be done mid-July. Many of us will have to return to campus in early April to "teach" in COVID-19 classrooms. No vaccine. No safety. Let's go to school!

Okay, I got my rant off my chest.

I suspect things will be sped up. May or June is an unacceptably late timeframe for mere approval, and surely everyone knows it. With the more deadly and contagious variants out there, once the SOE is lifted cases will shoot up quickly. Mask wearing alone will not keep Japan out of the woods anymore.

 the government would be ready to consider an application by Johnson & Johnson for its single-dose vaccine if one is filed. 

Ya, I wonder why J&J haven't done that yet. I wonder why they haven't sacrificed any time and resources for the onerous application process and meaningless additional clinical trials. The Japanese minister of health is waiting and wondering.

I am not going to wait until may to restart normal living

Thankfully coronavirus wasn't as bad as first feared, time to get on with life

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has repeatedly said vaccinations are a decisive step to bring the pandemic under control as early as possible.

As early as possible meaning half year after all other developed countries...

did you notice that all prescription drugs are made in Japan.

that's because importing foreign drugs it's an odyssey, plenty of protective laws to discourage drug companies.

"There is the possibility of giving pharmaceutical approval as early as May or June," Norihisa Tamura, minister of health, labor and welfare, said on a TV program.

Very representative of Japan. Couldn't do it "as early as next week", right? Months of paperwork and meetings are compulsory for anything, even in the middle of a pandemic.

Japan has signed agreements with the three vaccine makers for a total of 314 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, enough to inoculate 157 million people. The country's population is around 126 million.

Considering that the vaccine is not going to be compulsory and there's a big adversion to vaccines in Japan (and these are "foreign" vaccines!), more than a half of these vaccines will be wasted.

"There is the possibility of giving pharmaceutical approval as early as May or June," Norihisa Tamura, minister of health

Doesn't he mean as LATE as May? This is beyond ridiculous.