Japanese Govt. Reports No Serious Vaccine Concerns
Officials of Japan's health ministry say they recognize no serious concerns in regard to the safety of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine though some allergic reactions after the shots were deemed anaphylactic.
Officials say more than 181,000 shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been administered to health workers across the country as of 5 p.m. Thursday.
Among them, medical institutions reported 36 cases that showed reactions similar to anaphylaxis after the shots. That's about one in 5,000. The ratio is about 42 times that of the US and about 11 times that of Britain.
The health ministry's panel of experts held a meeting on Friday. An expert on the panel pointed out that data should be interpreted taking into account that each country uses different criteria.
The panel said that of 17 suspected anaphylactic cases reported around the country by Tuesday, seven of them, or about 40 percent, met international criteria defining the symptoms of anaphylaxis.
The health ministry plans to continue Japan's vaccination roll-out program. It is calling on local municipalities and medical institutions to ensure the recipient is monitored for 15 minutes after the shot and for about 30 minutes for those who have had a severe allergic reaction in the past.