Two die in Japan after dose shots of Moderna suspended; cause of investigated deaths

Two people have died after receiving vaccines against Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, which were suspended following contaminant discoveries, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Thirty-year-old men died this month a few days after receiving the second dose of Moderna, the ministry said in a statement. Each had a shot of one of the three manufacturing batches suspended on Thursday. The causes of death are being investigated.

Japan stopped the use of 1.63 million Modern doses shipped to 863 vaccination centers nationwide, more than a week after national distributor Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. received reports of contaminants in some vials.

“At this time, we have no evidence that these deaths are caused by the Modern COVID-19 vaccine,” Moderna and Takeda said in a statement on Saturday. “It’s important to do a formal investigation to determine if there is any connection.”

The government has also said that no safety or efficiency issues had been identified and that the suspension of the three Modern lots was a precaution.

Fumie Sakamoto, the infection control manager at St. John’s International Hospital. Luke’s of Tokyo, warned not to establish a connection between the shootings and the fatalities reported Saturday.

“There can only be a temporary relationship between vaccination and death,” Sakamoto said. “There are so many things we still don’t know to come to any conclusions about these two cases.”

Contaminants found on some roads in Japan are believed to be metal particles, NHK reported, citing health ministry sources.

Japan has administered more than 124 million vaccines against COVID-19, with about 44% of the population completely inoculated.

As of August 8, 991 people had died in Japan after receiving shots from the Pfizer Inc. vaccine. and 11 after receiving the Modern, but no causality has been established between injections and deaths, according to the health ministry. Adverse reactions have been reported at a frequency of 0.01% for Moderna firing.

In the fatalities reported on Saturday, each man had a fever the day after his second dose and died two days after the fever. There is no evidence that his shots contained contaminants, a health ministry official told reporters.