We made a big mistake, Bridle says. We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen; we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So, by vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin.

The efforts from Japan’s health authority offer stark contrast to coercive measures used in other countries.

For the first time amid the pandemic, the U.S. government compensation program will pay out one of the 4,751 claims alleging injuries or death arising from the administration of a covered countermeasure used to diagnose, treat, or prevent COVID-19. But consider moving to Japan, no mandates and no discrimination of unvaccinated.

Two men died after each was administered a dose of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine that was among lots later suspended from use following the discovery of contaminants.

This setback in Japan’s vaccination drive comes just as the country reported a record high number of over 23,000 daily COVID-19 infections.