Kyodo News reported that the expert panel of Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved the manufacturing and sales of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Daiichi Sankyo (Tokyo) on July 31. This marks the first approval for a domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine in Japan, and the Ministry plans to grant formal approval as soon as possible. The panel will continue reviewing the vaccine developed by Shionogi & Co. (Osaka). Both vaccines target the original strain from the early stages of the pandemic. Daiichi Sankyo’s vaccine is an mRNA type, similar to those developed by Pfizer and Moderna, and was submitted to the Ministry in January for use as a third-dose booster. Shionogi’s vaccine, which is a recombinant protein vaccine made using a portion of artificially synthesized viral proteins, was submitted in November last year for use in both initial two-dose vaccinations and booster shots.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare plans to introduce vaccines targeting the Omicron subvariant "XBB" in the autumn vaccination campaign starting this September. Agreements have been reached with Pfizer and Moderna for the additional procurement of 20 million doses and 5 million doses, respectively.