The Japanese health ministry has decided to stop all covid-19 vaccines that depend on the Moderna brand after “foreign substances” were found in 39 vials, according to the Japan Times. The foreign substances have not yet been identified, but they appear to be “a few millimeters” in size.
According to the Japan Times, foreign substances supplying the Modern vaccine to Japan were discovered at eight different vaccination sites in Tokyo, Ibaraki, Saitama, Gifu and Aichi prefectures, and were reported to the health ministry on Wednesday.
According to reports, the vaccine vials were produced in Spain and it is not immediately clear whether this factory has shipped any Moderna vials to the United States or anywhere else in the world. The potentially contaminated vaccine was produced under batch numbers 3004667, 3004734 and 3004956.
Said the healthcare company Kyodo News that Moderna “is carefully evaluating this issue and that at this time it has no further comment on the root causes.” Moderna stressed that “so far no safety or effectiveness issues have been identified.”
Japan has already administered at least 10 million doses of Moderna and there have been no reports of adverse reactions to the shot in that country. But the withdrawal of covid-19 vaccine doses could have an extremely negative impact on public health in Japan, a country that struggled with its deployment of vaccines and is currently experiencing a huge increase in covid-19 cases.
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Only 42.5% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University, well below the rate of other rich countries. Currently, the U.S. covid-19 vaccination rate is 52.33% of the total population.
Japan is currently experiencing the worst covid-19 wave in the entire pandemic, with more than 24,000 new cases recorded on Wednesday alone. In June, the country only made an average of about 1,500 cases a day.
Like other countries, Japan is overwhelmed with the delta variant of covid-19, which is much more contagious than previous strains. In fact, the delta viral load is believed to be approximately 300 times higher than other versions of covid-19, according to a recent study by South Korea.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., which is in charge of selling and distributing the Modern vaccine in Japan, has requested a formal investigation into the batches of contaminated vaccines. The Japanese government has a contract with Moderna to receive 50 million doses by the end of September, although it is not clear what the potential contamination by foreign substances is. makes to their existing contracts.