Domestically produced new corona vaccine to be used for the first time in actual vaccination Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare

The expert panel of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved the use of the new coronavirus vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical giant "Daiichi Sankyo". After official approval by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, it will be delivered to local governments as early as early next month, and domestically produced vaccines will be able to be used for actual vaccination for the first time.

The vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical giant Daiichi Sankyo against the XBB strain of the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus was approved for use, and an application for approval was submitted to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in September.

At the expert committee meeting of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare held on the 9th, it was approved to approve the use of the drug on the grounds that its efficacy could be confirmed and there were no serious safety concerns.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, vaccinations against the new coronavirus in Japan have been made by overseas pharmaceutical manufacturers, and as a domestically produced vaccine, a conventional strain vaccine developed by "Daiichi Sankyo" was approved in August, but it was not used in actual vaccination.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) recently announced that it has reached an agreement with manufacturers to purchase 27.8 million doses of the XBB strain vaccine after approving its manufacture and sale.

After approval, it will be delivered to local governments as early as early next month, so that domestically produced vaccines can be used for actual vaccination for the first time.

Daiichi Sankyo's mRNA vaccine What is the difference from others?

Daiichi Sankyo's new coronavirus vaccine is the first mRNA vaccine developed by a pharmaceutical company in Japan.

mRNA is genetic information that is the "blueprint" of proteins, and when a vaccine is administered into the body, a spike protein is produced that serves as a foothold when the new coronavirus is infected in the body, and antibodies are made by the action of immunity against it.

The mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna produce the entire spike protein of the virus, but the Daiichi Sankyo vaccine produces only the part of the spike protein called RBD = receptor binding domain that binds to human cells, so the length of the mRNA that serves as a blueprint is shorter.

According to Daiichi Sankyo, the short length of the mRNA makes it easy to control the quality in the manufacturing process, and it also has the advantage of making it easier to remake the mRNA in response to mutated viruses.