Deficiency of the syringe prevents the development of the Japanese vaccination COVID-19

TOKYO (Reuters) – Fears are mounting in Japan, where an inoculation action against COVID-19 will begin on Wednesday, according to which millions of doses of Pfizer vaccine could be wasted due to the lack of special syringes that maximize the number of photos used in each bottle.

The government has made urgent demands, but producers are struggling to speed up production quickly enough, creating the latest headache for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who suffers from weak public support.

“We are still trying to secure these special syringes,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Tuesday.

Japan, with a population of 126 million, signed a contract last month with Pfizer Inc. to procure 144 million doses of its vaccine, or enough for 72 million people.

One vial is intended for six photos, says Pfizer, but special syringes are needed that keep a low volume of solution after an injection to extract six doses, while only five photos can be taken with standard syringes that the government provides. stored in preparation for the inoculation unit.

When asked last week, Kato did not answer questions directly about whether the lack of the ideal syringe would mean that the number of photos Japan could take would be reduced, but on Tuesday acknowledged that without it there would be a waste.

“When it comes to what’s left in vials and syringes, what’s left unused will be disposed of,” Kato said.

Both a Pfizer Japan spokeswoman and a Japanese health ministry official declined to say whether the contract to supply Japan with 144 million doses of vaccine by the end of the year is based on six doses taken from each vial.

The rapid inoculation of the Japanese population is a major priority for Suga’s government, as it is determined to host the Tokyo Olympics this summer, after the Games were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an attempt to minimize the amount of vaccine left unused in syringes and vials, the government is urging medical equipment manufacturers to increase production of dead syringes, but there are doubts whether this can be done quickly enough.

Nipro Corp., which runs a factory in Thailand capable of producing 500,000 units a month, said it plans to increase its monthly capacity to several million, but that it will take up to five months to reach that goal.

“We are receiving a request from the Ministry of Health and we need to take some steps. But it’s not something we can do overnight. There are still four or five months until we can suddenly grow up “, said a Nipro spokesperson.

Another large Japanese medical equipment manufacturer Terumo Corp. said it had begun developing syringes suitable for extracting six doses from a vial, but that it was too early to say when commercial production could begin.

Although daily cases have declined in recent weeks in Japan since the peak in early January, Tokyo and nine other prefectures are still under the state of coronavirus emergency.

Japan reported about 418,000 cases, with 7,042 deaths, according to public broadcaster NHK.