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ANKARA
The shortage of specialty syringes could hamper Japan’s plans to use the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in its nationwide immunization campaign, a senior health official said Tuesday.
Last month, Japan said it had procured doses for 72 million people based on the assumption that one vial of the vaccine would provide six injections.
However, the shortage of low “dead space” syringes, which have narrow emboli and reduce the amount of leftover vaccine, means that standard syringes will have to be used, drawing only five doses from each vial, according to one report. by Kyodo News.
That would add up to enough doses for 60 million people, the report reads.
“The syringes used in Japan can only draw five doses. We will use all the syringes that we have that can extract six doses, but, of course, it will not be enough as more injections are administered, ”the news agency said, citing Health Minister Norihisa Tamura.
Another senior Health Ministry official said the government “is ready to discuss with Pfizer how many more doses it can supply to Japan.”
Officials have urged medical equipment manufacturers to “increase production of specialty syringes,” as Japan aims to begin inoculating healthcare workers from February 17.
The first phase will be “a study to verify the safety of the vaccine” before vaccinations for about 36 million people 65 years and older begin in April, according to Kyodo News.
Japan is likely to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use next week.
The COVID-19 case count in Japan is 408,578, including 6,601 deaths.
The capital Tokyo, the most affected area in the country, accounts for 105,024 of all infections, with 491 more reported on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Japan has asked citizens to suspend or postpone trips to Tanzania “due to the rapid worsening of the situation of the coronavirus infection and the president of the African country denies the existence of COVID-19,” reported the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi.
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