Okinava suspends vaccination with Moderna vaccine for contamination – SME.sk

TOKYO. Japan’s Okinava prefecture suspended use on Sunday vaccines against coronavirus from Moderna.

It did so on the basis of findings that some batches were contaminated, the AFP agency reported.

“We are suspending the use of vaccines against (disease) COVID-19 from Moderna because foreign substances have been detected in some of them,” the local government said in a statement.

The move came a day after the Japanese Ministry of Health said it was investigating the deaths of two men who were vaccination vaccine from Moderna. Both received doses from a batch whose use in the country was suspended following reports of contamination. The cause of their death is unknown.

The men, aged 30 and 38, died in early August a few days after receiving a second dose of the vaccine from Moderna, the ministry said. Both received a dose from one of three suspended production batches.

The Japanese government on Thursday suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of vaccines from Moderna, which were delivered to 863 vaccination centers in various parts of the country. The reason was reports of batch contamination from several production batches.

Local media said in connection with the contamination of vaccine doses in Okinawa that these were not the same batches of vaccine that the government put out of circulation on Thursday.

The Ministry of Health stated that it is currently unknown whether there is a causal link between the death of a male couple and the vaccine.

“At present, we have no evidence that these deaths are caused by the Moderna vaccine. It is therefore important to conduct a formal investigation to see if there is a link,” Moderna and Pharmaceutical Company Takeda, the country’s responsible company, said in a joint statement on Saturday. for the distribution and sale of this vaccine.

Supplier, Spanish pharmaceutical company ROVI, said in a statement on Thursday that it was investigating the cause of contamination of the supply, which was distributed only in Japan.