Japan Throws Away 1.63 Million Moderna Doses Due to Contamination Issues

Medical staff prepares Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to be administered at the newly-opened mass vaccination centre in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2021. Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo/File Photo

TOKYO, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine contamination woes in Japan widened after two regions put temporary holds on shots following the discovery of foreign substances in more batches, with the country throwing out 1.63 million doses.

Per Reuters, reports from Japan of vaccine contamination came from Gunma Prefecture (near Tokyo) and around Okinawa.

An official from the prefecture said that a tiny black substance was found in a Moderna vaccine vial in Gunma, while black substances in Okinawa were spotted in syringes and a vial, and pink material was found in another syringe.

Japan’s health ministry claimed that some of the incidents may have been caused by needles being incorrectly inserted into vials, breaking off bits of rubber.

The contamination cases come after a government report on Saturday that two people died after receiving Moderna shots among batches that were later thrown away.

The ministry and Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.T), which distributes the Moderna vaccine in Japan, said there were no safety issues from the mishap and that there is no need for nationwide suspensions.

“It is unlikely, in my opinion, that contamination of foreign substances led directly to sudden deaths,” said Takahiro Kinoshita, a physician and vice-chair of Cov-Navi, a vaccine information group.

“If the contaminated substances were dangerous enough to cause death for some people, probably many more people would have suffered from some symptoms after the vaccination.”

“However, further investigations are definitely needed to evaluate the harm of the particular doses in question.”

Big League Politics has covered huge mistakes of the scientific establishment in the past, including the CDC holding an emergency meeting due to vaccine-induced Myocarditis:

In perhaps one of their most blatantly shameless political moves yet, government employees working at the Center for Disease Control decided to postpone an emergency meeting discussing why young adults are being hospitalized for post-vaccine heart inflammation following inoculation from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Per Reuters, the decision was made because CDC employees were instead taking a paid day off from the government, brought to you by Joe Biden’s recent move of making Juneteenth a federal holiday:

“June 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday put off its meeting to discuss the occurrence of myocarditis among people who received COVID-19 shots due to the Juneteenth national holiday.

Advisers to CDC were set to meet on Friday to assess the possibility of a link between rare cases of heart inflammation and mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna…”

The government of Japan plans to continue ditributing the Moderna vaccine as normal going forward.

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