Feb 12 (NHK) - A panel of experts at Japan's health ministry has given the green light to a coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech.
The expert panel made the decision at a meeting on Thursday evening after they examined findings on the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
Sources say the decision was partly based on a clinical trial held in Japan with Japanese subjects that showed an increase in neutralizing antibodies.
Health minister Tamura Norihisa is expected to formally approve the vaccine likely on Sunday as the country's first coronavirus vaccine.
The Japanese government plans to start giving shots to medical workers in the middle of next week.
Under a contract with the government, Pfizer is due to supply Japan with enough doses for 72 million people by the end of the year.
