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The delay in Japan’s vaccine rollout highlights barriers to commercialization of domestic vaccine production.
Last week, Japan delivered its first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, two months after the vaccination crusade began in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
While around one hundred million people around the world have received at least one vaccine dose, Japan is the last G7 country to begin vaccinations. Although the number of deaths from COVID-19 compared to millions of people in Japan is low, with thirteen deaths. – compared to the United Kingdom and the United States, which have recorded more than six hundred deaths along with millions of others – Japan has no time to waste. Vaccines are key to controlling the coronavirus outbreak, and Japan’s small, underdeveloped vaccine industry doesn’t stand a chance against the four largest pharmaceutical companies, which together hold 70 to 80% of the global market.
Japan relies heavily on imported vaccines, having secured a total of 280 million doses of a combination of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines for a whopping 671. 4 billion yen ($6. 4 billion). Japan will first vaccinate 40,000 medical personnel, 20,000 of whom will take part in a fitness survey. This will be followed by 3. 7 million doctors, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and other fitness workers. People 65 and older will receive the vaccine in April, followed by the general population.
However, at this time, Japan has only approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, emphasizing protection over speed. Pfizer’s foreign clinical trial was tested on 40,000 people, 4% of whom were Asian. But since no Japanese subjects participated in the clinical trials, there are considerations about the effects of ethnicity-specific aspects. Japan’s vaccination crusade has been slowed by requests from the Ministry of Health to conduct local clinical trials to “confirm the effect of the vaccine on the Japanese population. “In October, a local clinical trial involving more than two hundred Japanese participants met and final approval was given in December.
The government’s efforts to secure vaccines have led to foreign pharmaceutical corporations benefiting from liability waivers, and the Japanese government agreed to take responsibility for the side-effect option.
Compared to the billions of dollars invested each year in studies by large pharmaceutical corporations founded in the United States and Europe, Japan’s vaccine industry has been described as weak. Currently, of the 10 Japanese corporations lately searching for a vaccine, only AnGes Inc has carried out the latest research. is conducting clinical trials for its vaccine, based on plasmid DNA technology. Shionogi
Barriers to access to the global vaccine market are already high, in addition to the additional costs of conducting large-scale clinical trials abroad, which must expand global advertising activities and recoup investments. In addition, lawsuits over the adverse side effects of the cervical cancer vaccine have led to what experts call a timid strategy for vaccine progression, as a lawsuit may simply cause significant investments in vaccine progression to be wasted.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit Japan amid a lack of leadership in the under-resourced vaccine sector. In 2016, a Health Ministry task force noted that Japan’s vaccine industry was facing a “crisis” and was being abandoned through the so-called convoy formula, a policy aimed at protecting financially viable companies as much as possible. to the detriment of more powerful companies.
Now, the pandemic is highlighting the dangers of letting Japan’s domestic functions fall behind. The shipment of Pfizer vaccines from Belgium to Japan will require approval from the European Union (EU) and, with Europe facing a vaccine shortage, there are fears that Japan’s supply may simply be interrupted until sufficient materials are provided to the European population.
Last week, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide said that as part of crisis management, the government plans to create national systems to develop and produce local vaccines against unpredictable infectious diseases.
Commercializing Japan’s small-scale vaccine industry requires long-term investments and restructuring, and to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, opting for a foreign vaccine is the cheapest option. There is a deep-seated pessimism that is no longer imaginable. for Japanese vaccine brands to compete with the big brands or adjust to their speed. However, others argue that Japan still has no option to accelerate its vaccine progression and rebuild the entire sector before the next pandemic hits.
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Last week, Japan delivered its first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, two months after the start of the vaccination campaign in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
While around one hundred million people around the world have received at least one vaccine dose, Japan is the last G7 country to begin vaccinations. Although the number of deaths from COVID-19 compared to millions of people in Japan is low, with thirteen deaths. – compared to the United Kingdom and the United States, which have recorded more than six hundred deaths along with millions of others – Japan has no time to waste. Vaccines are key to controlling the coronavirus outbreak, and Japan’s small, underdeveloped vaccine industry doesn’t stand a chance against the four largest pharmaceutical companies, which together hold 70 to 80% of the global market.
Japan relies heavily on imported vaccines, having secured a total of 280 million doses of a combination of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines for a whopping 671. 4 billion yen ($6. 4 billion). Japan will first vaccinate 40,000 medical personnel, 20,000 of whom will take part in a fitness survey. This will be followed by 3. 7 million doctors, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and other fitness workers. People 65 and older will receive the vaccine in April, followed by the general population.
However, at this time, Japan has only approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, emphasizing protection over speed. Pfizer’s foreign clinical trial was tested on 40,000 people, 4% of whom were Asian. But since no Japanese subjects participated in the clinical trials, there are considerations about the effects of ethnicity-specific aspects. Japan’s vaccination crusade has been slowed by requests from the Ministry of Health to conduct local clinical trials to “confirm the effect of the vaccine on the Japanese population. “In October, a local clinical trial involving more than two hundred Japanese participants met and final approval was given in December.
The government’s efforts to secure vaccines have led to foreign pharmaceutical corporations benefiting from liability waivers, and the Japanese government agreed to take responsibility for the side-effect option.
Compared to the billions of dollars invested each year in studies by large pharmaceutical corporations founded in the United States and Europe, Japan’s vaccine industry has been described as weak. Currently, of the 10 Japanese corporations lately seeking a vaccine, only AnGes Inc has conducted late research. is conducting clinical trials for its vaccine, based on plasmid DNA technology. Shionogi
Barriers to accessing the global vaccine market are already high, in addition to the additional costs of conducting large-scale clinical trials abroad, which must expand the business globally and recoup investments. Additionally, lawsuits over adverse side effects of the cervical cancer vaccine have led to what experts call a timid strategy for vaccine progression, as a lawsuit may simply cause significant investments in wasted. the progression of the vaccine.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit Japan amid a lack of leadership in the under-resourced vaccine sector. In 2016, a Health Ministry task force noted that Japan’s vaccine industry was facing a “crisis” and was being abandoned by what is known as a convoy formula: a policy aimed at protecting financially weaker corporations at the expense of more powerful ones.
Now, the pandemic is highlighting the dangers of letting Japan’s internal functions be left behind. The shipment of Pfizer vaccines from Belgium to Japan will require approval from the European Union (EU), and with Europe facing a shortage of vaccines, there are fears that the source from Japan may simply be disrupted until enough materials are provided to the European population.
Last week, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide said that as part of crisis management, the government plans to create national systems to develop and produce local vaccines against unpredictable infectious diseases.
Commercializing Japan’s small-scale vaccine industry requires long-term investments and restructuring, and to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, opting for a foreign vaccine is the cheapest option. There is a deep-seated pessimism that is no longer imaginable. for Japanese vaccine brands to compete with the big brands or adjust to their speed. However, others argue that Japan still has no option to accelerate its vaccine progression and rebuild the entire sector before the next pandemic hits.
Last week, Japan delivered its first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, two months after the vaccination crusade began in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
While around one hundred million people worldwide have received at least one dose of vaccine, Japan is the latest G7 country to start vaccinating. Although the number of deaths from COVID-19 compared to millions of people in Japan is relatively low, thirteen deaths, compared to the UK and the US, are relatively low. With the U. S. in the U. S. , which has recorded more than 600 deaths per million people, Japan has no time to lose. . Vaccines are key to controlling the coronavirus outbreak and Japan’s relatively small and underdeveloped vaccine industry stands no chance against the four largest pharmaceutical companies, which together hold 70-80% of the global market.