There are rumors circulating right now claiming that Japan has banned all mRNA (modRNA) Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccines" after discovering an excess in "sudden" deaths. The truth is quite different, sadly, as Japan is not only keeping mRNA injections, but it is going to start charging for them, come April.
In an announcement, the Japanese government revealed that mRNA injections for the Chinese Virus will no longer be free (taxpayer-funded), as was the case since April 2020. Starting in April 2024, people who want to get injected with an mRNA shot in Japan will need to pay for it out of pocket.
"Fully public-funded vaccination of the new coronavirus vaccine will end on March 31," the Japanese government said.
As is too often the case, some media reports are falsely claiming that Japan has banned mRNA COVID shots based on an apparent mistranslation of the Japanese government's announcement.
X put up a warning on tweets and retweets claiming a ban that adds readers' context from someone who lives in Japan:
"I am a citizen of Japan and this is a blatant false rumor," this person wrote about the ban claims coming from some media outlets.
"As described ... by the ministry of health of Japan, Japan will continue mRNA vaccination after April, but it will be just charged."
Sadly, Japan is actually expanding its mRNA lineup to include the world's first "self-amplified" mRNA injection, known as ARCT-154.
According to reports, ARCT-154 contains RNA (sa-mRNA) technology that allows it to target COVID using a different technological mechanism than the original mRNA injections offered by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Late last fall, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) gave the green light to ARCT-154, calling it "a historic and exciting milestone" for Japan and the world.
The way it works is sa-mRNA instructs the body of the recipient to replicate mRNA, effectively amplifying the amount of protein made so less antigen is needed for the injection to "work."
"ARCT-154 is based on Arcturus Therapeutics' STARR technology, which combines self-replicating RNA with its LUNAR lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform technologies," reports explain.
"The firm claims the former triggers rapid and prolonged antigen expression within host cells, resulting in protective immunity against infectious pathogens. The LUNAR tech, meanwhile, tackles delivery problems typically associated with viral vectors and existing lipid vector technology by capturing therapeutic nucleic acids and safely moving them to target cells using an endocytosis process."
The two companies behind ARCT-154 are CSL and Arcturus, both of which gained access to the technology to co-develop their new sa-mRNA COVID jab. The two companies also plan to use sa-mRNA in a new influenza injection they are developing.
The $200 million deal forged by CSL and Arcturus to co-develop sa-mRNA was described by the analytics and consultancy firm Clarivate as "the most valuable RNA platform partnership," a partnership that ultimately led to the new injection being developed at warp speed.
"Self-amplifying mRNA technology has the potential to be an enduring vaccine option," commented Nobel laureate Drew Weissman just prior to CSL and Arcturus receiving approval for the shot.
"I look forward to seeing this next generation mRNA technology protect many from COVID-19 and possibly other harmful infectious diseases."
On X, several people noted that Japanese leaders are still, sadly, promoting and defending not only the new sa-mRNA shots for COVID but also the original mRNA shots for COVID, despite the high number of excess deaths that have been reported.