Millions of people in Japan will not receive Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as planned due to a shortage of specialist syringes – an oversight that could frustrate the country’s inoculation programme.
Standard syringes in use in Japan are unable to extract the sixth and final dose from each vial manufactured by the US drug maker, according to the health minister, Norihisa Tamura.
Japan has secured 144m shots of the Pfizer vaccine – enough for 72 million people – on the assumption that each vial contained six doses.
Each recipient requires two jabs, three weeks apart, to increase the level of protection, according to Pfizer.
But a shortage of low “dead space” syringes – which have narrow plungers that can push out any leftover vaccine – means vaccinators in Japan will have to use mainly standard syringes that are capable of extracting only five doses per vial, or enough for 60 million people.
“The syringes used in Japan can only draw five doses,” Tamura said, according to the Kyodo news agency. “We will use all the syringes we have that can draw six doses, but it will, of course, not be enough as more shots are administered.”
The government is requesting medical equipment manufacturers to increase production of the specialist syringes.
Japan is not alone in encountering the problem. The US and European Union countries have also reported a shortage of low dead space syringes, meaning there is likely to be strong competition to quickly secure additional supplies.