Photo/Illutration Doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine used to inoculate Osaka residents in August 2021 (Pool)

The government canceled shipments of about 40 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, which had low usage rates from concerns about blood clots, according to a health ministry official.

Yasuyuki Sahara, who heads the ministry’s Health Service Bureau, revealed the cancellations at an April 11 session of the Lower House’s Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration.

“We can cancel the supplies if we do not need them,” Sahara said in response to a question from Hajime Yatagawa, a lawmaker from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

Sahara declined, however, to answer a question about whether the government paid any penalties for the cancellations, saying he cannot risk undermining Japan’s effort to secure vaccine doses.

The doses account for roughly a third of the 120 million doses the British pharmaceutical firm agreed to supply to Japan under a deal signed with the government.

Until now, the ministry had refused to disclose the specific number of AstraZeneca vaccine doses supplied from the company, citing a need to maintain the confidentiality of its deal with the firm.

Of the 120 million doses, only about 200,000 were shipped to local governments for inoculations amid fears of rare blood clots that were reported overseas in some cases of those inoculated with the vaccine.

The central government set aside up to 60 million doses of the vaccine to donate to other countries and regions and has sent about 43 million doses overseas so far.

The remaining 20 million doses, excluding those canceled, will likely be thrown out when they expire six months after their manufacturing dates.

A senior ministry official previously said the government has “no choice but to discard them when they expire.”

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