The government of Japan has suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of the Covid Moderna vaccine contaminated with “foreign substances”.
The country’s Health Ministry has said that “foreign” substances have been found in eight vaccination sites since August 16.
Moderna has made it known that it is withdrawing the affected batches while investigating a possible problem in the production, which would have taken place in Spain.
Pharmaceutical company Takeda which distributes the vaccine on behalf of the Health Ministry said on Thursday that it had “received reports from various vaccination centres that foreign substances have been found inside unopened vials from specific lots.”
“After consulting with the Ministry of Health, we have decided to suspend the use of the vaccine from the batch as of August 26,” a spokesman for the company said on Thursday.
The firm said it had informed Moderna and “requested an urgent investigation.”
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