The new crown pneumonia epidemic in Japan has resurfaced since October and accelerated in early November. So far, it has not been effectively curbed. The number of newly confirmed cases in the metropolitan area remains high, the medical system is facing a peak of pressure, and the public is depressed and confused. Some US and European pharmaceutical companies that have launched a new crown vaccine are urging the Japanese side to speed up the approval of the use of their vaccine, and the Japanese side still needs to improve many conditions to implement large-scale vaccination.

In all fairness, compared with the United Kingdom and the United States and other countries, the Japanese government and medical system are doing their best in fighting the epidemic, and the people are generally able to cooperate with the implementation of epidemic prevention measures. At present, social public activities are not restricted, and the public security situation is generally good. At the end of the year, when people have to go back to their hometowns and provinces, make friends, go out for sightseeing, or do business, the flow of people is not decreasing but increasing. This has also become a potential factor for the spread of the epidemic in Japan.

The Japanese government has no good measures to fight the epidemic, medical staff are on the verge of collapse, social emotions are restless, and the cabinet’s approval rating plummets. At this time, some pharmaceutical giants in the United States and Britain delivered the new crown vaccine at the right time, expressing that they would offer a safe and reliable vaccine to the Japanese people to alleviate Japan’s urgent need to fight the epidemic. Of course, the prerequisite is that the Japanese government must “specially handle special matters” to approve and release their vaccines as soon as possible.

According to the information released by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japanese government has previously signed contracts or reached cooperation intentions with three pharmaceutical companies in the United States and Britain on vaccine supply. Two parties have officially signed the contract: One is to sign a contract with Modena of the United States on October 29. If the company’s vaccine is successfully developed, it will be shipped from Japan through Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and 40 million doses will be provided in the first half of next year. The third quarter will continue to provide 10 million doses; the second is to sign a contract with the British company AstraZeneca on December 10, if the company’s vaccine development is successful, 120 million doses of vaccine will be provided early next year, of which about 30 million will be provided in the first quarter of next year. Japan’s JCR Pharmaceuticals is scheduled to produce vaccine stock solutions in China and purchase vaccines from overseas. The intention for cooperation is that Japan reached a basic agreement with Pfizer on July 31. If the company successfully develops a vaccine, Japan will receive 120 million doses (60 million inoculations) before the end of June next year. Continue to negotiate the final contract. In addition, Novavax of the United States and Takeda have reached a collaboration agreement to plan to produce vaccines in Japan.

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech of Germany has begun to implement the first and second phase trials in Japan in October. 160 Japanese people aged 20 to 85 will be vaccinated. It will be submitted to Japan in February next year. 1. The main data of the second phase trial. Pfizer submitted a production and sales license application to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on December 18. If approved, 120 million doses of vaccine will be provided to Japan in the first half of next year. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare stated that it will review the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine based on the data submitted by Pfizer, and decide whether to approve it as soon as mid-February 2021.

In terms of the vaccination plan, based on the contracts or vaccine supply intentions reached with 3 US and British pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Modena and AstraZeneca, Japan will start vaccination work in the first half of 2021 if the vaccine development is confirmed. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has requested prefectures, counties and municipalities across the country to speed up preparations for new crown vaccination. The Japanese government is considering first vaccinating about 10,000 medical practitioners in late February 2021, vaccinating the remaining about 3 million medical practitioners in mid-March, vaccinating senior citizens in late March, and vaccinating all citizens in April. People with underlying diseases will be vaccinated first.

Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Norihisa Tamura emphasized that the vaccine to be used will be evaluated and judged on the basis of a practical review of the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine. He said that the United States has issued emergency use permits for related vaccines and started vaccination, and Japan will also “as the highest priority subject for the highest priority review.” Regarding some of the side effects of vaccines in the United States and Europe, Tamura said that it will collect relevant information from abroad and use it as an important reference data in Japan’s vaccine review work. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga stated on a TBS TV program on December 21 that it is very important to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Once confirmed, the Prime Minister’s residence will set up a special countermeasure team to coordinate various government departments to start vaccination. Generally, the Japanese government vaccine approval process takes about one year, and individual cases can be used as “exceptions” to simplify procedures. In May of this year, Japan approved the use of a new coronary pneumonia treatment drug in just 3 days.

The Japanese government has sufficient legal and financial preparations for vaccination against US and British pharmaceutical companies. Congress quickly passed the “Vaccination Act (Amendment)” on December 2, allowing the new crown vaccine as a special case of “temporary vaccination”. The country will bear the cost of vaccination. Once serious side effects or health damage problems occur, the country will also provide certain compensation. In the 2021 fiscal budget decided by the Japanese cabinet on December 21, 5 trillion yen was included in the preparation of new crown epidemic prevention funds, including 573.6 billion yen in special funds for vaccination.

Japanese society has high expectations for vaccines from American and British pharmaceutical companies, but also has hidden worries. Japanese media are concerned that Pfizer’s vaccine was licensed for use in the United States in only 3 weeks, but the number of infections in Japan is much smaller than that in the United States and Europe. The clinical trials of the vaccine in Japan are too small, with only 160 subjects. It is difficult to truly confirm the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine. Ishii Ken, a professor at the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Tokyo, believes that Pfizer’s vaccines have undergone tens of thousands of clinical trials in different countries, including Asians. So far, no differences in side effects between different races have been found. However, the review authority requires Pay attention to “Haste will fail.” Nowadays, Japanese society has both the hope of getting a vaccine right away, and the cautious idea of ​​”Vaccine development is too fast and risky, wait for vaccination”. Therefore, getting a vaccine is “both benefits and risks.”

Japanese media paid close attention to the serious side effects of Pfizer and Modena vaccines in clinical trials and actual vaccination. They noticed that on December 15th, a woman in the United States suffered a severe allergic reaction after receiving Pfizer vaccine and was hospitalized. ; Two British medical staff experienced severe allergic reactions after vaccination; in the previous clinical trials, the vaccination also experienced a higher proportion of fatigue, headache, fever above 38 degrees and so on. Japanese media believe that after all, it is targeted at hundreds of thousands and millions of healthy people, and serious side effects after vaccination must be carefully considered.

Professor Tetsuya Matsumoto of the International University of Medical Welfare in Japan believes that the vaccine is certainly worth looking forward to, but because of side effects, I hope the Japanese government will not make a hasty decision.

In terms of domestic vaccine research and development, according to the information released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan has five major forces in the development of vaccines from different companies and related institutions. They have also received funding subsidies from the Japanese government, and some have entered the second and third phases of clinical trials. Experiment, but the scale of the test subjects is small, about five to six hundred people.

In people’s impression, Japan has a high level of medical technology and a strong ability in medical research and development, but this time, its domestic vaccine research and development process seems to be relatively lagging. The decisive reason is temporarily unknown, but the following objective factors exist. First, Japan’s initial epidemic prevention and control effect was good, and the number of people infected was not large. After the epidemic expanded, research on the new crown virus was rapidly deepened, and the treatment of new crown pneumonia was effective, and the treatment of drugs and measures to prevent patients from becoming more severe became abundant. Therefore, Japan’s demand for vaccines is not large, and it does not seem to be so urgent. Second, Japan has strict ethics in medical research and development, relatively complete laws dealing with drug side effects and medical accidents, and a more cautious stand on the use of genetic technology to develop vaccines. Third, most of the Japanese medical and pharmaceutical R&D capital is in the hands of pharmaceutical giants. The Japanese, American and European pharmaceutical giants have in-depth exchanges of capital, technology and market interests. Japanese pharmaceutical companies have actually participated in the vaccine development and production of British and American pharmaceutical companies. process. Fourth, judging from some of the policy measures of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan seems to be more inclined to rely on the Western Group of Seven (G7) to respond to the challenges and opportunities arising from the global spread of the epidemic to promote new crown medicine and vaccine diplomacy.