Japan has lost a third man after he was injected with one of the three Moderna vaccine batches. Authorities have not yet determined a causal link.
The 49-year old man died after receiving his second shot on August 11. According to the health ministry, his only known health problem was an allergy that he had to buckwheat. The ministry confirmed that it was not able to determine if the latest death was related to the vaccine, as with the two previous deaths.
The shot was taken from the same batch that had been found to contain fragments of stainless-steel in them. This led to a recall on 26 August of 1.63 million doses of the Moderna vaccination. Moderna contracted the production of three batches in Spain.
Although the company has not yet commented on the latest fatality, it issued a joint statement last week with Takeda Pharmaceutical stating: "The rare presence of stainless-steel particles in Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doesn't pose an undue danger to patient safety and does not adversely impact the benefit/risk profile the product."
Two men in their 30s who had no other health issues died after receiving their second doses of the Moderna vaccine.
In Okinawa and Gunma, contaminants believed to be rubber fragments from vial stops that were accidentally inserted needles in the vaccine liquid, were discovered in late August and early September. The contaminated vaccines were from different batches than the ones that had been recalled. No reported problems.
Taro Kono, the minister responsible for the vaccine program, stated that more than 500,000 people were injected with vaccines from three defective batches.
Pfizer makes most of the Japanese vaccines, but at least 12.2m doses have been given of Moderna. Nearly 136m coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Japan. Japan has 48% of the population fully vaccinated, and 59% of those who have received at least one shot have received them.
For the first time since mid July, new infections in Tokyo fell below 1,000 for Monday.
