A third man has died in Japan after receiving an injection from one of the batches of Moderna vaccines since recalled after contaminants were found in some of them, though authorities say no causal link has yet been found.
The 49-year-old man had his second shot on 11 August and died the following day. His only known health issue was an allergy to buckwheat, the health ministry said on Monday. As with the previous two deaths, the ministry said it had yet to establish if the latest fatality was linked to the vaccine.
The shot came from one of the three batches that were part of a recall of the initial 1.63m doses of the Moderna vaccine on 26 August, but not from one of the batches found to have fragments of stainless steel in them. The three batches were manufactured in Spain under contract by Moderna.
While authorities initially pulled some 1.63 million doses originating from three different lots, another million doses were later recalled in Okinawa and Gunma prefectures after they were also found to be contaminated.
The company said: “This is a tragic event, and the loss of life is something that we take very seriously. We offer our sincerest condolences to their loved ones.”
Last week, Moderna’s Japanese distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., said it conducted an investigation at the plant where the contamination was thought to have happened, suggesting the metal shavings most likely came from machinery at the facility.
An investigation to find the source of the particles has been launched by European safety regulators, Moderna, and Spanish bottling company Rovi.
This is an excerpt from The Business Insider.
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