Photo/Illutration Health minister Norihisa Tamura attends a July 7 session of the Lower House Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Health minister Norihisa Tamura said Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine remains effective even if the second required dose is administered six weeks after the first shot, double the period recommended in his ministry’s guidelines.

Tamura made the remark on July 7 in response to a question by Akira Nagatsuma, a member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at the Lower House Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare.

The central government has provided doses of the vaccine, jointly developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. and its German partner, BioNTech, to local governments for their inoculation programs.

But it started reducing the quantity of the shots in July, prompting some municipalities to stop accepting reservations for the inoculations or even cancel bookings.

Tamura implied that a delay up to a certain period before the second shot should not be a problem.

“We will work hard to ensure a stable supply of the vaccine to enable those who can’t be inoculated within three weeks (after their first shots) to receive (their second doses) as quickly as possible,” he said.

The prime minister’s office posted a tweet echoing Tamura’s sentiments. The tweet mentioned that guidelines of the World Health Organization, the United States and some EU member nations say the second shot should be administered within six weeks after the first dose.

The health ministry’s vaccination guidelines for municipalities stipulate that the standard interval between the two shots is 20 days.

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