Tokyo – The Ministry of Health of Japan has extracted about 1.63 million doses of Moderna coronavirus the out-of-use vaccine was found after 39 unused vials at eight vaccination sites were contaminated with a substance not yet specified. No security issues have been reported. All suspicious roads were manufactured in Spain.
Moderna has been sent mainly to mass vaccination centers in Japan, such as universities and large companies, and it was unclear to what extent the incident could backfire. Japan’s already delayed inoculation campaign. More than 800 vaccination sites were affected.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who toured a vaccination clinic in Tokyo’s Sumida district on Thursday, told Japanese media that he had ordered health officials to “make safety our top priority” to respond to the problem of the contaminated vaccine. . He offered assurances that the incident “would not have a significant impact” on the country’s vaccination program, which lags far behind those of other major industrialized countries.
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Suga, whose popularity has been mistreated by his handling of the pandemic, is running for re-election to the presidency of the ruling party on 29 September. The ruling party leader automatically becomes prime minister in Japan.
One of Suga’s rivals, former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, threw his hat in the ring on Thursday, suggesting he would take more aggressive measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, according to the prime minister’s office, only 42.6% of Japan’s general population was fully vaccinated.
Although Japan has also approved Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, concerns about blood clot problems delayed the release of the latter until this week; it is being restricted to 40 years or more, as in Britain.
COVID and the Paralympics
He Tokyo Paralympics announced on Thursday – Day 2 of the competition – that the first participant had been hospitalized by COVID since the Games began. The patient was described as a non-foreign athlete, with no life-threatening symptoms. Fifteen more people, including two foreign competitors hosted at the Vila dels Atletes, have tested positive in a total of 184 cases related to the Paralympic Games.
The latest Japanese wave of COVID-19 has marked the spirit of empowerment joy and positivity that the Paralympics are trying to convey.
Seijiro Takeshita, a teacher who lives with his family in southwest Tokyo, told CBS News that the fear among residents is palpable: “I would say that in terms of frustration and anger and, above all, worry and anxiety. , is definitely reaching its peak “.
Restrictions are extended with full hospitals
On Wednesday, with the Delta variant driving daily cases beyond 25,000, the existing state of emergency in the Tokyo region was extended to 21 of the country’s 47 prefectures.
Including prefectures covered by a lighter quasi-state of emergency, almost the entire country was again under some form of antiviral restrictions as of Thursday. The number of serious cases in Japan, now reaching 1,964, has reached new daily highs in recent weeks.
The tragic stories of patients unable to be admitted to hospitals overwhelmed and forced to recover at home have become alarming.
Last week, in Chiba, east of the capital, health officials revealed that a thirty-year-old pregnant woman suffering from COVID had not been able to find a hospital bed and worked at home prematurely. The child was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.