A self-amplifying mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, Arcturus Therapeutics’ Kostaive (ARCT-154), has been the subject of extensive disparaging and scientifically inaccurate comments online in its first market Japan, which granted it a world-first approval in November 2023.
Vaccine Misinformation: Meiji Considers Legal Action Amid Japan Launch Of Kostaive
Dispute around the first-in-world license for a self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine castes light on Japan’s ongoing dilemma between a government trying to build its own capabilities to attract, develop and manufacture new modalities and the anti-vax movement in the country.

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