People aged 65 or older who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine had only one-fifteenth the number of new coronavirus infections per capita compared to their unvaccinated peers, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has found.
A senior government official heralded the findings as "proof of the effectiveness of the vaccine."
To arrive at the figure, the ministry analyzed the number of people who tested positive for the virus from July 5 to July 15, as well as the number of times they had been vaccinated, based on data available in HER-SYS, an online system for the centralized management of infected patients' data.
Among unvaccinated people aged 65 or older, coronavirus infections were detected over the period at a rate of 13.5 cases per 100,000 people. The infection rate fell to 3.7 cases per 100,000 elderly who had received one dose of vaccine, and 0.9 among those who had received two doses.
-- 50 million. doses of Moderna vaccine to be supplied early in 2022
Health minister Norihisa Tamura announced on Tuesday that a contract had been signed with the U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna, Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. to secure an additional 50 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine as early as the start of next year.
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