Japan approves its first domestic COVID-19 vaccine

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan has approved the mass production and commercialization of the country's first coronavirus vaccine of the Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo, Report informs via TASS.

Early this year, the company began building Japan's first local mRNA vaccine plant, while it applied to the Ministry of Health for permission to produce and commercialize the vaccine domestically. On July 31, a special panel of experts from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan recommended approval of Daiichi Sankyo's application.

During the pandemic, Japan used vaccines manufactured by the American companies Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, as well as the British-Swedish AstraZeneca.