[서울신문] “Japan will deliver 12 million Pfizer vaccines due to lack of special syringes”

6 doses per bottle of Pfizer vaccine
Only 5 vaccinations per bottle are possible with a Japanese domestic syringe
Vaccine that can inoculate 12 million people will be discarded.

The shortage of special syringes in Japan puts 12 million Covid-19 Pfizer vaccines to be discarded.

According to NHK on the 10th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare initially planned to inoculate 6 doses per bottle of Pfizer vaccine, but it was belatedly learned that only 5 doses per bottle with a domestic syringe.

Noricha Tamura, the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare announced a plan to change the number of vaccinations per bottle of Pfizer vaccine from 6 to 5 at the House Budget Committee the previous day.

The Japanese government plans to receive 144 million doses (72 million people) of vaccines from Pfizer within this year. However, as the number of vaccinations per bottle was reduced from 6 to 5, the number of possible vaccinations decreased from 72 million to 60 million. The vaccine for 12 million people will be discarded.

Pfizer vaccine stock solution is supplied in a bottle, and when inoculated, a predetermined amount is collected by piercing a syringe into the bottle.

In December of last year, Pfizer informed Japan of its policy to collect 6 doses per bottle. However, it wasn’t until the end of last month that I needed a special syringe to collect the six doses. As a result of reviewing syringes in Japan, they found that most of them can only take five doses per bottle. This is because the injection drug remains in the needle or syringe.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare started securing special syringes belatedly, but it is difficult to secure sufficient amounts.

As the vaccine is inevitable for 12 million people to be discarded due to the syringe problem, there are concerns that the number of people who can get the Pfizer vaccine will decrease in Japan.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is in a position to discuss supply with Pfizer in the future. However, amid difficulties in securing vaccines in each country, there is a possibility of being criticized by the international community as a significant amount of vaccines are wasted.

Japan’s “Corona Vaccination Starts Mid Week Next”

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that the corona 19 vaccination will begin in the middle of next week in his country.

According to NHK and Jiji news agency on the 10th, Prime Minister Suga said at the liaison meeting of the government and the ruling party that “confirming the efficacy and safety of the corona 19 vaccination, and commencing it in the middle of next week”.

The timing of vaccination is expected to be adjusted on the 17th.

Prime Minister Suga said, “The cooperation between doctors and nurses with local governments in charge of on-site operation of (vaccination) is essential. I will continue to do my best to prepare everything.”

At the same time, regarding the extension of the declaration of emergency by one month until the 7th of next month to 10 metropolitan local governments, including Tokyo, “I am very sorry to put an additional burden on the people. I thought that it was necessary to correct the infection somehow.”

According to the Nippon Geizai Shimbun (Nikkei), the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s vaccine will arrive in Japan on the 14th, where medical workers will receive the vaccine first. Afterwards, the vaccines are given in the order of the elderly, those with underlying diseases, 60-64 years old, and the general public according to the amount of vaccine supplied.

Reporter Kim Chae-hyun [email protected]