Probe launched after 1,032 doses of COVID-19 vaccine damage in Japan

The government said on Tuesday that an investigation would be launched after more than 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had to be discarded due to the malfunction of a freezer that stored them.

A medical institution reported that 172 vials of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which must be kept between -80 and -60 degrees Celsius, became useless after the freezer broke over the weekend, the health ministry said, wasting up to 1,032 doses.

Japan began its inoculation program on February 17 – just over five months before the Tokyo Olympics – and has so far only approved the drug Pfizer / BioNTech.

Government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said on Tuesday that the cause of the malfunction was not yet clear, but the company that installed the freezer would investigate and report.

Kato said Japan had installed about 100 vaccine freezers across the country by the end of February.

“We would like to respond quickly when necessary, based on the results of the investigation carried out by the company that installed it,” said Kato.

The vaccination of health professionals began in mid-February, with Taro Kono, minister responsible for the process, admitting “having no idea” how much of the population would receive the vaccine before the Olympics, which start on July 23.

On Monday, the first doses were administered to about 32,000 doctors and nurses, according to Kono.

The country struck deals with three major pharmaceutical companies to buy sufficient doses for its population of 126 million.

But he was also struggling to secure enough of the special syringes needed to extract six full doses from each vial of the Pfizer vaccine.

Japan is running a cautious implantation program and is planning to initially vaccinate 40,000 health workers across the country before administering vaccines to some 3.7 million in March.

Vaccination for about 36 million people aged 65 and over is expected to begin in April.