Japan had weak basis for ordering 882 mil. COVID vaccine doses: audit

Mar 30 (marketscreener.com) - Japan's audit board has requested the health ministry provide supporting documentation for contracts with U.S and British coronavirus vaccine manufacturers after finding a weak basis for ordering a total of 882 million doses in fiscal 2020 and 2021.

The report released Wednesday by the Board of Audit of Japan also found that at least 30 percent of the doses were either canceled or disposed of after expiring.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare spent a total of 4.20 trillion yen ($32 billion) in the two years, with the cost of securing vaccines accounting for 2.40 trillion yen of the amount.

In contracts signed between October 2020 and March 2022, Japan ordered 399 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc., 213 million doses from Moderna Inc., 120 million doses from Astra Zeneca Plc, and 150 million doses from Novavax Inc.

But only around 296 million doses of Pfizer, 83.12 million doses of Moderna, 120,000 doses of AstraZeneca and 290,000 doses of Novavax had been administered as of the end of January. ...continue reading

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