Japan believes that the mixed use of COVID-19 shots can accelerate the launch of the vaccine

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A medical worker chooses a syringe while being given a COVID-19 vaccine injection at the Tokyo metropolitan government office in Tokyo while the Tokyo metropolitan government began vaccination for people participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics , Japan, June 18, 2021. Yoshikazu Tsuno / Pool via REUTERS

TOKYO, Aug. 29 (Reuters) – Japan is studying the possibility of mixing traits from AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine (AZN.L) with those developed by other drug manufacturers to try to speed up the vaccine’s release. the minister responsible for vaccines said Sunday.

Japan, which has previously relied on the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) / BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) vaccines, approved the AstraZeneca vaccine in July and has secured two million doses.

“I have asked the Ministry of Health to issue an opinion on the use of AstraZeneca vaccines for the first dose and Pfizer with the second, or AstraZeneca as the first shot and Moderna as the second,” said the head of the vaccine program Taro Kono Fuji Television Network.

This could speed up the deployment of vaccination by shortening the intervals between the first and second shot when using the AstraZeneca vaccine, he said.

Both AstraZeneca vaccines are given at an interval of eight weeks, longer than for the other vaccines.

Japan is battling its worst wave of infections, driven by the Delta variant, with new daily infections exceeding 25,000 this month for the first time.

The country’s vaccination ratio has lagged behind other developed countries. According to a Reuters vaccine tracker, Japan has inoculated 54% of its population with at least one dose and completely vaccinated 43%. Read more

Reports of Junko Fujita; edited by Richard Pullin

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