Japan considers mixed use of Covid-19 vaccines to speed up immunization – 08/29/2021

The minister in charge of the immunization plan said, on Sunday, that Japan is studying the possibility of mixing doses of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine with those developed by other manufacturers in an attempt to speed up the pace of vaccination.

Japan, which previously relied on Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, approved the AstraZeneca vaccine in July and guaranteed two million doses.

“I asked the Ministry of Health for an opinion on the use of AstraZeneca for the first dose and Pfizer for the second dose or AstraZeneca for the first dose and Modern for the second dose,” said Taro Kono, head of the vaccination program. on Fuji Television Network.

This could speed up vaccination by shortening the intervals between the first and second doses, he said.

Two doses of AstraZeneca are given eight weeks apart, longer than other vaccines.

Japan battles worst wave of infections, driven delta variableWith the number of daily new infections exceeding 25,000 this month for the first time.

The country’s vaccination rate has lagged behind that of other developed countries. Japan has vaccinated 54% of its population with at least one dose and has vaccinated 43% of its entire population, according to the Reuters vaccine tracking.