Japan to speed up booster shots amid fear of omicron spread

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his government is accelerating COVID-19 booster shots and securing oral medicines after speaking with Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Burla. Japan has confirmed a handful of omicron variant cases, while revealing a cluster of infections of about 100 U.S. troops on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa. Japan has so far approved booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna. It’s also moving to shorten the interval between the second jabs and boosters. Kishida says he and Burla agreed on Pfizer’s supply of 2 million doses of oral medicine for COVID-19, in addition to Merck pills expected to be approved by the end of the month. Kishida was believed to have asked Burla to speed up the supply schedule.