Japan alarmed by repeated flu epidemics amid slow spread of vaccinations

January 30, 2018

Japan alarmed by repeated flu epidemics amid slow spread of vaccinations

Young people get excited toward the St. Valentine's Day gift giving season. This is the case with Japanese men and women now, but the 14th day of February is a special day for quite different reasons to a citizens' group aimed at honoring an Edo Era physician for his effort to develop a safer smallpox vaccination method.
Shunsaku Ogata, a samurai warrior clan physician of Akizuku, currently part of Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, successfully performed a nasal vaccination on two kids on February 14, 1790.
Ogata's endeavor came almost a century before Japan started introducing various kinds of technology and knowledge from western countries following the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Before Ogata's project, some cases had been made for smallpox vaccinations in other parts of Japan, but the earlier cases were largely kept secret.
Unlike the prior cases, Ogata (1748-1810) taught anybody who came to him to learn his method. His study was also supported by the then clan chief. He also compiled a book about his method.
As various kinds of vaccines were developed in recent decades, Japan was once a leading country in terms of vaccination campaigns. But the importance and necessity of vaccination have not been fully disseminated among Japanese people, experts warn.
In Japan, 20 or so cases are currently recognized as vaccine preventable diseases, or VPDs. About half of them are covered with mandatory, subsidized vaccinations, but vaccinations are voluntary for other VPDs.
A recent questionnaire shows that only about 60 percent of infant-raising Japanese mothers are ready to get their children inoculated with influenza vaccines. This is another indication of slow progress in increasing the public awareness about the need for vaccination, despite repeated flu epidemics in recent years.
The citizens' group campaigned to make the 14th day of February the Japan commemoration day of vaccination. The day was so established in 2014 when their application was granted by the Japan commemoration day association.
Why is the spread of vaccinations slow in Japan? People familiar with Japan's medical care system cite various factors, among them longstanding customs and regulations regarding the interval of vaccinations and the part where vaccination should be made.
Unlike the United States, simultaneous injections of different vaccines are little recommended, while vaccines are given usually by hypodermic in the upper arm. Doubts remain about the effectiveness of vaccines on some cases.
Regulations and rules about the method of vaccinations and others must be quickly improved, particularly for infants, said a physician who attends a clinic in Asakura. "Japan must make more efforts to protect infants from flu and other serious diseases in view of a declining birthrate."
Ogata collected smallpox scabs from patients and dried and powdered them for the vaccination on the two boys. The subjects developed smallpox two days later, but both of them recuperated in about 10 days, according to the group.
His success came six years before Edward Jenner, the British physician and scientist, developed a safe smallpox vaccination method, to be called "the father of immunology."
In Japan, about 10 million people are infected by various types of flu every year, with fatal cases estimated at 1,000 a year.
A monument in honor of Ogata stands at the front yard of Asakura Medical Association Hospital. The monument, built in 1990, has a relief which shows Ogata performing a nasal vaccination on one of the children, with the other standing by.
What should he say when he saw the slow progress of increasing the awareness about the importance of vaccinations in Japan?