The Japanese government has approved the use of US-based multinational pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, media reports said. The recent development comes after Japanese Health Minister Norihisa Tamura recently said that Japan would give its final approval as soon as possible.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga revealed that the vaccination programme in the country will start in the middle of next week. He further revealed that around 10,000 health workers will receive the jab in the first batch. About 3.7 million other medical workers will be next, followed by elderly people, who are expected to get their shots in April. Japan is planning to vaccinate its entire population, which is around 126 million people by mid-2021.
It is also reported that the Pfizer vaccine has arrived in Australia earlier today. The country is expected to begin its vaccination programme form February 22, 2021. The authorities are expected to administer around 50,000 doses to vaccinate frontline quarantine and health workers, and 30,000 to aged care and disability care residents and workers.
In this regard, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told the media, “They will now be subject to security, quality assurance, in particular, to ensure that temperature maintenance has been preserved throughout the course of the flight, to ensure the integrity of the doses, and to ensure there has been no damage.”
Pfizer, which is headquartered in New York is one of the largest drugmakers in the world. In May 2020, Pfizer began testing four different Covid-19 vaccine variations. Currently, it is supplying the vaccine to numerous countries across the world.