On March 28, 2024 the editorial team of Fact received a notification via WhatsApp asking to verify a blog article Sa Defenza, published four days earlier and titled “Japan bans Covid vaccines as sudden deaths rise.” The article states that “Japan just banned Covid mRNA shots for public use and called on other nations to follow suit after an official government study linked the shots to a surge in sudden deaths in the nation.” .
This is fake news.
There is no confirmation of the news that Japan has banned anti-Covid-19 vaccines in the country. In fact, on the website of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there are still indications on how to obtain vaccination against Covid-19. However, we would like to point out that from April 2024 these vaccines will no longer be financially covered with state funds. This means, explains the newspaper The Asahi Shimbun, that people over 65, or between 60 and 64 but with serious pre-existing health conditions, will have to pay 70 percent of the total cost of the vaccine. The rest of the population will instead have to bear the entire cost of vaccination, unless there are subsidies from local governments.
It is also not true that “an official government study linked the injections to the surge in sudden deaths in the nation.” The study cited in the article was published on the Preprint.org website on March 15, 2024 and concerns blood transfusions between vaccinated people and people who have suffered from long Covid. However, the research was not subjected to peer review, i.e. peer review by other experts in the sector before the publication of a scientific study, and does not speak of “sudden deaths”. We add that at the time of writing, two deaths caused by the anti-Covid vaccine have been confirmed in Japan out of a total of over 436 million doses administered (including all booster doses). Finally, the Japanese government lists possible side effects on its website, but continues to recommend that the population get vaccinated since the benefits “outweigh the risk of side reactions”.
On Fact we dealt with other false news that some states had banned anti-Covid vaccines.
