Photo/Illutration The vaccine developed by U.S. biotech firm Moderna Inc. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Nearly 80 percent of people who received their second shots of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine developed a fever of 37.5 degrees or higher, according to the health ministry.

The figure is roughly twice that for those who were administered Pfizer’s vaccine.

A group of researchers, including Suminobu Ito, a visiting professor at Juntendo University Hospital, surveyed Self-Defense Forces personnel and other recipients of the Moderna vaccine.

They analyzed the data of 7,615 people who were administered their first shots and 2,491 people who received their second doses.

The ministry’s subcommittee on Aug. 4 released an interim report on the survey.

The report shows 7.3 percent of the people who were administered their first jabs ran a fever of 37.5 degrees or higher after the inoculations, while the figure was 78.4 percent for those who received their second shots.

Of those who were administered their first doses, 2.1 percent developed a fever of 38 degrees or higher afterward, while the figure was 61.9 percent for those who received their second jabs, according to the report.

More than 70 percent of respondents developed a fever the day after they were administered their second shots. Only 20 percent had a fever two days after their second jabs.

In a separate survey of about 20,000 health care workers who received the Pfizer vaccine, 3.3 percent of those who were administered their first doses developed a fever of 37.5 degrees or higher afterward, while the figure was 38.1 percent for those who received their second shots.

Related News