Health Ministry To Prioritize Vaccine Screening
Japanese health minister Tamura Norihisa says top priority will be given to quickly screening a COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The comment indicates the screening will proceed based on a fast-track system that requires much simpler steps than conventional screening.
Tamura was speaking to reporters on Friday evening after Pfizer became the first company to apply for the ministry's approval for the use of a coronavirus vaccine in Japan.
Tamura said the application explains that people need to receive two doses of the vaccine with a three-week interval between them.
The minister said the document contains data obtained from clinical trials held outside Japan. He said Pfizer will submit by February the main results of clinical trials conducted in Japan.
Tamura stressed that the vaccine's efficacy and safety will be rigorously checked. He said that once it is approved, authorities will prepare a vaccination system as soon as possible, so that people hoping to be inoculated can do so.
Tamura added the ministry will examine some reports of possible side effects of the vaccine and disseminate the information to the public.
