Japan should have scrapped domestic trials to speed COVID shots - vaccine chief (updated)

Taro Pharmaceutical Industries

15/06/2021 11:47

(Recasts)
    TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) - Japan's requirement of domestic
clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines cost it precious time in
inoculating its population, vaccine programme chief Taro Kono
said on Tuesday.
    About 4.8% of the population has been fully vaccinated, a
Reuters tracker shows, the lowest rate among large wealthy
economies at a time when tens of thousands of visitors are
poised to arrive for the Tokyo Olympics starting on July 23.
    "If I could go back all the way to the beginning, I would
have probably scrapped the clinical trial that we did," Kono
told reporters.
    "It's probably necessary for ordinary times, but in the case
of emergency, or state of emergency, like COVID-19, I think we
should have started the vaccination as early as possible."
    Japan's mid-February start of vaccinations lagged most major
economies and was dependent on initially scarce doses of Pfizer
Inc's vaccine  PFE.N  imported from overseas.
    Kono, the administrative reform minister tapped to head the
programme in January, said opposition parties pushed for
domestic trials and media would have pilloried the government if
accidents had happened without them.
    But some public health experts have said the domestic
trials, involving 200 subjects or fewer, were scientifically
meaningless.
    In recent weeks, the vaccine campaign has picked up steam
and is set to accelerate now that thousands of companies have
signed up to use government supplies to administer shots to
employees and families.
    Kono said he hoped daily vaccinations would hit one million
by the end of June, up from about 700,000 now.

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 (Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Clarence Fernandez)
 ((eimi.yamamitsu@thomsonreuters.com;))