The Japanese government has signed a contract with Pfizer and Moderna in the United States and three pharmaceutical companies in AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom to supply the vaccine for the new coronavirus.
The vaccines of these three companies are summarized based on the materials of the US CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the British government, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and pharmaceutical companies.
Pfizer etc.
Pfizer, a major American pharmaceutical company, has developed a vaccine with German biotech company Biontech.
A type of mRNA vaccine that administers the genetic information "mRNA" to make spike proteins that serve as a foothold when the new coronavirus infects cells.
By making spike protein in the body, it promotes the production of antibodies that attack the virus by the action of immunity.
mRNA is an unstable and fragile substance that is covered with a thin lipid membrane in the vaccine and requires storage in an ultra-low temperature freezer at minus 90 to minus 60 degrees Celsius according to the Pfizer vaccine package insert. I have come.
About this, Pfizer announced on February 19 that it has new data that it can be stored in a general medical freezer for two weeks at -25 to -15 degrees Celsius.
Pfizer has submitted data to the FDA = US Food and Drug Administration and wants approval for storing vaccines at this temperature.
The vaccine can be thawed in the required number of containers before inoculation and then stored in a 2-8 degree refrigerator for up to 5 days.
And at the time of inoculation, it is necessary to use up within 6 hours after diluting with physiological saline.
The inoculation method is intramuscular injection, and the injection needle is to be inserted at a right angle from the upper part of the arm to inject into the muscle deeper in the subcutaneous fat, and the second inoculation is performed 21 days after the first inoculation. You need to receive.
Approved in Japan, the government has a contract to supply 72 million people by the end of the year.
Advance vaccination for healthcare professionals has started in mid-February.
Moderna
The vaccine of the American pharmaceutical company Moderna is also an "mRNA vaccine".
This means that it can be stored in a freezer at -25 to -15 degrees Celsius, and at medical institutions it can be stored in a refrigerator at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for 30 days.
When inoculating, it is thawed at room temperature, and if unopened, it can be kept usable at room temperature of 8 to 25 degrees for 12 hours, but when it is started to be used, it must be used up within 6 hours.
The inoculation method is intramuscular injection, and you need to receive the second inoculation 28 days after the first inoculation.
The Japanese government has signed a contract to receive supply for 25 million people by September.
AstraZeneca etc.
British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has developed a vaccine with the University of Oxford.
It is a type of viral vector vaccine in which the gene that makes the spike protein of the virus is incorporated into another harmless virus and administered together with the virus.
Then, a harmless virus infects human cells and the same spike protein as that of the new coronavirus is produced, and in response to this, antibodies are produced by the action of immunity.
It can be stored in the refrigerator at 2 to 8 degrees, but after opening it should be used within 48 hours if stored in the refrigerator and within 6 hours at room temperature.
The inoculation method is intramuscular injection, and you need to receive the second inoculation 28 days after the first inoculation.
AstraZeneca has applied for approval from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and has a contract with the Japanese government to supply vaccines for 60 million people, and if approved by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, from domestic manufacturing bases. It is expected that more than 40 million people will be supplied.