Japan OKs Pfizer COVID-19 oral pills amid surging infections

The approval came less than a month after Pfizer applied in mid-January, an exceptional speed in a country where foreign drug approvals usually take much longer.

Associated Press

February 10, 2022 / 21:54 IST

Source: Reuters

Japan has granted fast-track approval to U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc.s COVID-19 pill, the heath minister said Thursday, as the country struggles to slow fast-spreading omicron infections.

The approval came less than a month after Pfizer applied in mid-January, an exceptional speed in a country where foreign drug approvals usually take much longer.

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Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto said the availability of Pfizer's Paxlovid pill gives high-risk patients, including elderly people and those with underlying health issues, greater treatment options.

The approval comes as surging cases among elderly patients are starting to overwhelm hospitals in Tokyo and other metropolitan areas, and delayed booster vaccinations have reached only about 8% of the population.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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