Tokyo — Two men have passed away after receiving a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, which had been suspended due to contaminants.
The two men, 30 and 38, died within days of getting the second dose of the vaccine on Aug 22 and 15, respectively, reported local newspaper The Mainichi on Saturday (Aug 28).
According to a health ministry media release, no foreign contaminants were discovered in the vials used on the two men, although it came from one of the three manufacturing lots suspended.
On Aug 26, Japan halted the use of 1.63 million Moderna doses sent to 863 vaccination centres across the country, a week after domestic distributor Takeda Pharmaceutical Co confirmed the presence of contaminants in the doses.
During pre-inoculation inspections, blackish foreign matter less than 0.5 millimetres in size was discovered in the vials, while black and pink matter was spotted in a different lot in Okinawa.
In total, seven prefectures across Japan have reported the foreign matter in the doses.
To date, more than 1,000 people in Japan have died following vaccination against Covid-19; however, health experts still have to determine if there was a relationship between the two.
“At this time, we do not have any evidence that these deaths are caused by the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine,” said Moderna and Takeda in a statement on Saturday.
“It is important to conduct a formal investigation to determine whether there is any connection.”
The health ministry announced on Sunday (Aug 29) that rubber pieces may have fallen into the vials after a syringe needle was pushed through the rubber lid of the bottle, reported Kyodo News.
On Sunday, Tokyo confirmed 3,081 new cases, down 1,311 from a week ago, marking a week-on-week decline for seven days.
The total number of cases in Japan is currently at 1,460,169, with 15,969 reported deaths.
Meanwhile, around 105.9 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine has been administered. /TISG
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