Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
Name : The 51st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Toxicology
Date : July 03, 2024 - July 05, 2024
The topic of adverse reactions following immunization has become very familiar to the public in Japan over the past few years. The trigger was, of course, the domestic approval of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Similar to the results from pre-licensure clinical trials, post-marketing surveys showed high frequency of fever and fatigue, which has been reported in the media every day, along with the unprecedented speed of promoting the national immunization program. Although the higher frequency of adverse reactions of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines compared to vaccines with conventional modality was initially accepted in balance with the high vaccine efficacy/effectiveness, it gradually became clear that the vaccine efficacy/effectiveness decreases over time. As a result, skepticism about vaccines has come into focus as well as serious adverse events following immunization. These phenomena were inevitable as a public reaction to the initial high expectations for COVID-19 vaccines. However, amidst the abundance of information, confusion arose probably because of insufficient sharing of fundamental knowledge from the perspective of vaccinology or epidemiology, such as the difference between adverse reactions and adverse events, and what can be said from the fact that adverse events occurred following immunization.
In my presentation, I will summarize the status and issues of epidemiological research on adverse reactions and adverse events following immunization, which will serve as the basis for discussing the theme of this session, "Vaccine Science from the Perspective of Immunotoxicology".
