Japan decided, Wednesday, to provide free vaccines against the novel coronavirus to all of its 126 million people while registering a high number of new infections currently.
The upper chamber of the House of Representatives approved a bill that would require the government to cover the costs of vaccination, after it had obtained the approval of the House of Representatives.
Japan has already ordered 60 million doses from Pfizer and 25 million from Moderna.
Moreover, it would receive 120 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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Japanese House of Representatives, the Diet- File Photo[/caption]
The Pfizer/Biontech Alliance and Moderna are seeking to obtain an emergency use license in the United States and Europe, after their experiments showed high effectiveness of the vaccine.
The adoption of the bill comes two weeks after the prime minister announced that Japan is on "high alert", after it registered a record number of new infections.
Japan remained relatively immune to a dangerous outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, as it recorded 2,170 deaths and 150,000 infections, and did not impose quarantine measures like other countries around the globe.
The Tokyo governor urged residents to avoid leaving homes for unnecessary reasons and asked the stores that provide alcohol to close early, but these recommendations are "non-binding," according to what was reported by "AFP."
It’s noteworthy that, the United Kingdom agreed, on Wednesday, to use the Pfizer vaccine.
"The recommendation of the Independent Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to approve the coronavirus vaccine has been accepted by Pfizer and Biontech," the government said in a statement.
The statement added: "The vaccine will be available across Britain, starting next week," according to the British "Sky News" network.
"The National Health Services has decades of experience in providing vaccination programs on a large scale, and will work on preparing intensively to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination," said the Ministry of Health and Social Care spokesman.
And the statement said that the vaccine "will be available in Europe before the end of 2020" in the event that he obtains the necessary license, according to "AFP."
The two companies expect the US Food and Drug Administration to grant approval for emergency use by mid-December.
Pfizer stated that it expects to have 50 million coronavirus vaccine doses ready this year, 2020, enough to protect 25 million people.
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