Japan To Provide AstraZeneca Vaccine To COVID-19 State Of Emergency Areas

TOKYO, Aug. 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Aug, 2021 ) :The Japanese government will give priority to providing British drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC's COVID-19 vaccine to six areas under the latest COVID-19 state of emergency, Japan's minister in charge of the country's vaccine rollout has said, according to local media reports on Wednesday.

The state of emergency is set to come into effect through Aug. 31 in Tokyo and Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka and Okinawa prefectures.

Taro Kono, also the regulatory reform minister, said Tuesday that 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine produced domestically have been preserved for distribution in this month and next.

On Friday, the government finalized the decision to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered to people aged 40 or over in principle.

The shot will also be available to those under 40 if they wish to get the vaccine or have allergies to the ingredients of the Pfizer Inc. or Moderna Inc. messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines administered in Japan.

The AstraZeneca vaccine "can be used to accelerate inoculations of people in their 40s, 50s and early 60s, who are more likely to develop severe symptoms with (COVID-19)variants", Kono told a news conference.

Japan is currently confronting a rapid increase in COVID-19 infection cases stimulated partly by the rise of more virulent variants of the virus, including the highly contagious Delta variant.

In May, the government gave the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic use. However, its use was postponed as rare cases of blood clots after inoculations overseas were reported.