Japan’s health ministry has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, granting the first coronavirus vaccine authorization in the country to date.

The approval followed a recommendation by an expert panel, which found that the vaccine showed similar efficacy in Japanese trials to that seen in other countries.

The government has reached an agreement with the drugmaker for 144 million shots of the two-dose vaccine and hopes to secure enough doses to inoculate its entire population of 126 million by mid-year.