Japan Does Not Recommend AZ-Pfizer Cross-Vaccination: "Not a Situation to Actively Recommend"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Japanese government has stated that it does not recommend mixing different types of COVID-19 vaccines for cross-vaccination.

According to local public broadcaster NHK on the 29th, Kato Katsunobu, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, said at a press conference that regarding cross-vaccination, "At this point, we have not sufficiently obtained data on the efficacy and safety of receiving different vaccines for the first and second doses, and I understand that it is not a situation where the use of different vaccines can be actively recommended."

He added, "The vaccines currently approved in Japan have confirmed efficacy and safety based on clinical trials where the same vaccine was administered twice."

The COVID-19 vaccines currently approved in Japan are three types: Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca (AZ). Currently, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are being used for vaccination, but AZ is excluded from government-funded public vaccinations considering reports of thrombocytopenic thrombosis as a side effect abroad.

Japan's response is somewhat out of step with recent research findings. Researchers from Oxford University in the UK reported that when the AZ vaccine was administered first and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was given four weeks later, the immune response was stronger compared to receiving two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine alone.

South Korea recently decided to temporarily allow cross-vaccination by administering the Pfizer vaccine as the second dose to some individuals who received the first dose with AZ. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel received the first dose with AZ and the second dose with the Moderna vaccine as a cross-vaccination.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.