The government¡¯s coronavirus response was the subject of scrutiny at the Lower House Budget Committee session Monday, with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yet again making a case for vaccines being ¡°the decisive factor¡± in fighting the virus.
In response to Komeito lawmaker Keigo Masuya¡¯s question on the delay in vaccine approval in Japan compared with other countries, Suga explained that the country¡¯s number of COVID-19 patients, which is significantly lower than the United States and many European countries, made it difficult to collect data through clinical trials.
¡°In addition, differences among races are expected regarding (the effectiveness of) the vaccines, so there need to be certain clinical trials targeting Japanese people and not just a reliance solely on clinical trial data from the U.S. and European countries,¡± Suga said.
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