Moderna vaccines in Japan: what we know about the foreign particles found in the doses of the American firm – archyde

The preventive suspension of millions of doses of Moderna in Japan after the discovery of as yet unidentified foreign bodies raises questions, concerns and rumors. While the origin and the harmfulness of these particles are not precisely known, and France is a priori not concerned, the Decoders take stock.

On August 16, the Japanese pharmaceutical group Takeda, which imports and distributes the vaccine from the American group Moderna in the Archipelago, was notified of the discovery of “Foreign matter” in 39 bottles, from a batch of 57,000 bottles, or the equivalent of approximately 570,000 doses.

On August 26, after the discovery of foreign matter in two other batches, Japan preventively suspended the administration of three complete batches of Moderna, the equivalent of 1.63 million doses.

Over the following weekend, two men – aged 30 and 38 respectively – die after receiving a second dose of Moderna’s vaccine from one of these three batches, which have meanwhile been suspended. An additional million bottles are suspended on August 30.

• What is the nature of these “foreign bodies”?

These take different forms, most often that of a black substance, more rarely pink. “They are much smaller than sesame seeds – less than a millimeter. They looked like slices of something and were floating in the bottle when I shook it ”, relates Ishii Koki, a preparer from Saitama prefecture quoted by the national channel NHK, who found it in a bottle.

The Ministry of Health considers that certain subjects are “Probably metallic”, because they react in the presence of a magnet, but their nature has not yet been officially communicated, an investigation being underway. At this stage, there is no evidence that it is graphene, a pure carbon conductor element that has been highly prized since the 2010s in the industry and which was the subject during the summer many hijacked videos and unfounded rumors.

All the foreign bodies discovered do not have the same origin. In some cases, such as in Okinawa, needles improperly inserted in vials may have broken pieces of the rubber stopper, Japanese health minister Norihisa Tamura said on August 31.

• Where do the “probably metallic” particles come from?

The Moderna laboratory leans for the trail of a manufacturing defect. The particles would have accidentally entered the vials during their packaging in the Madrid plant of Rovi, the Spanish pharmaceutical company to which the American group subcontracts a large part of the production of its vaccines. The Spanish company immediately announced the launch of an internal investigation. Its stock market price lost 30% of its value in three days.

• Are all Moderna vaccine lots affected?

In the current state of knowledge, no. All the cases listed come from Japan. The Spanish company Rovi, which packages Moderna’s vaccines for territories other than the United States, confirms that the affected lots are “Exclusively intended for Japan”, according to a statement quoted by the local economic newspaper Capital Madrid. South Korea has said it is not affected by the problem.

• What are the consequences on health?

They are unknown. Two thirty-something vaccinated with one of the contaminated batches died, without a formal link being established, an investigation to be carried out. There was no evidence of the presence of contaminants in the doses, the health ministry said. “It is unlikely, in my opinion, that contamination by foreign substances directly led to sudden deaths”, said Takahiro Kinoshita, doctor and vice-president of Cov-Navi, a vaccine information group, quoted by Reuters, while recalling that further investigations were “Absolutely necessary” to assess their harmfulness.

In Japan, where Covid-19 cases have skyrocketed since the Olympics, only 46% of the population is vaccinated, according to government figures. Moderna’s messenger RNA vaccine is one of three products used, alongside those from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca.

As of August 8, 991 people have died in Japan after receiving injections of Pfizer-BioNTech, and 11 after receiving those from Moderna. No causal link has been established between the injections and the deaths, according to the health ministry. About 500,000 people received injections from the first three suspended batches of Moderna, according to the minister responsible for the vaccination campaign.

• Do these particles make you magnetic?

On social networks, many Internet users saw in this discovery the proof and the explanation to the supposed magnetism of vaccinated people against Covid-19. But this thesis hardly holds up: particles of less than a millimeter cannot have a sufficient power of attraction to attract an object through the skin. “For that to stick, there would have to be something strongly magnetizable in the shoulder, an iron part, a somewhat solid object, rather big”, moreover impossible to inject, explained to the World in June Kamil Fadel, head of the physical unit at the Palais des Découvertes.

Read also “Magnet challenge”: how to explain that magnets stick to the skin (with or without vaccine)

Philippe Mesmer(Tokyo, correspondence) and William Audureau