Japan allows the use of Pfizer’s vaccine for the 3rd injection for children aged 12-17

The above decision was made after an expert panel of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Japan Consider vaccination data in countries that have already started a third dose of childhood immunization, such as Israel and the United States.

Rate of side effects when injected 3rd dose of vaccine for the group of 12 – 17 years old is similar or even lower than when the first 2 injections are given. It’s important that there aren’t any serious safety issues.

In addition, the third injection will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of the vaccine, which gradually decreases over time after the second injection.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is expected to start the third injection for children aged 12-17 in April. The ministry hopes the third injection will be effective against the highly contagious variant of Omicron.

The 3rd injection will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of the vaccine, which gradually decreases over time after the 2nd injection. (Photo: AP)

In February 2021, Japan first approved the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to people 16 years of age and older. Three months later, the country continued to license the use of this vaccine for children aged 12-15 years. As for the booster shot, in November 2021, the MHLW only authorized the use of this vaccine for people 18 years of age and older because at that time there was still a lack of clinical trial data on the 12-17 age group.

Regarding the situation of the COVID-19 epidemic, in recent days, the number of new infections in Japan has continued to decrease, although the decline is still quite slow. On March 23, Japan recorded 41,038 new infections, down 16,800 cases from a week earlier, and 122 deaths from COVID-19. The number of severe COVID-19 patients also decreased by 21 from a day earlier, to 916. Tokyo alone recorded 6,430 new infections, down 3,700 from a week earlier.

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