ワクチン１．５億回分契約　ノババックス製、ブースター視野―厚労省

　米ノババックス社製の新型コロナウイルスワクチンについて、厚生労働省は７日までに、早ければ２０２２年初頭から約１年間で１億５０００万回分の供給を受けることで、国内の生産、流通を担う武田薬品工業と契約した。田村憲久厚労相が同日の閣議後の記者会見で明らかにした。
　同ワクチンは開発途上で、薬事承認を受けることが前提となる。武田薬品とノババックスは、既にワクチン接種を終えた人に追加投与する「ブースター接種」への使用を視野に開発を進めている。（2021/09/07-12:06）

The Japanese government has secured 150 million doses of U.S. biopharmaceutical firm Novavax Inc.'s novel coronavirus vaccine, health minister Norihisa Tamura said Tuesday.
   Under a contract signed with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. , the government will receive that amount in about a year from as early as the beginning of 2022 from Takeda, the producer and distributor of the vaccine in Japan.
   The Novavax vaccine, still under development, will need to receive pharmaceutical approval first.
   Takeda and Novavax are developing the vaccine so it can be used as so-called boosters, which are administered several months after the second shots of coronavirus vaccine in order to maintain vaccinations' effects.
   The government is preparing to start booster inoculations against the coronavirus.