Pfizer agrees to Suga's request to supply Japan with more doses

TOKYO • Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has agreed to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's request to supply additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, the vaccine minister of Japan said yesterday.

"They have agreed on the essentials of the matter," vaccine czar Taro Kono said, adding that further details including the shipment schedule will be discussed.

Mr Kono did not specify the number of extra doses sought from Pfizer, but said Japan would secure enough supply by the end of September to inoculate all people aged over 16. The vaccine is the only one approved in the country.

Mr Suga made the request during a phone call with Dr Bourla on Saturday, the last day of his three-day visit to Washington.

Japan has been seeing a surge of new coronavirus cases in recent weeks, which top health experts say is a fourth wave of the pandemic.

Only 0.9 per cent of the Japanese public had received their first vaccine shot as at Friday, compared with 2.5 per cent in South Korea, and 48 per cent in Britain.

The inoculation of Japan's sizeable elderly population began last Monday, but some experts have cautioned that the general population may not have access to vaccination until late summer or even winter because of constrained supplies.

Japan was among the last major economies to begin Covid-19 inoculations when it started in mid-February, after domestic trials to ensure safety.

Japan has exhibited "poor performance" in containing virus transmission, according to a recent commentary published in the British Medical Journal.

The chief of the Tokyo Olympics said on Friday that Japan was committed to holding a safe Games this summer, as a surge in Covid-19 cases prompted an expansion of contagion controls, amid fresh calls for the Games to again be postponed or cancelled.

REUTERS