Japanese People Are More Worried About Vaccines After Increasing Cases Of Vaccine Contamination

Nurses wait for people arriving to receive Moderna vaccine at a mass vaccination center (Source: Carl Court/Reuters)

JAKARTA - The number of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in Japan that was contaminated with particles has increased by one million doses and its use has been suspended. This condition is increasingly worrying many Japanese citizens about their vaccinations. Previously, foreign substances were reported to have been found in Moderna vaccine bottles and two people died after receiving doses of vaccine from the contaminated bottle group. The suspension, which affects more than 2.6 million doses of the vaccine, comes amid Japan's efforts to fight the worst wave of COVID-19, triggered by the Delta variant. The country's daily infection cases have crossed the 25,000 mark for the first time this month amid delay in vaccination. The latest reports of contamination cases came from Gunma Prefecture near Tokyo and Okinawa Prefecture to the south, which prompted the suspension of two vaccine lots on Sunday (29/8) after 1.63 million doses were withdrawn last week. A small black substance was found in a Moderna vaccine bottle in Gunma. , said a local prefectural official. In Okinawa, a black substance was seen in some syringes and a vial, and a pink material was found in another. The Japanese Ministry of Health said some incidents may have been caused by a syringe being inserted incorrectly, breaking some of the syringes. the rubber stopper. Other vaccine vials from the same lot can still be used, the ministry said on Monday, August 30. The contamination case came to light following a government report on Saturday (28/8) that two people died after receiving injections of Moderna vaccine from lots that eventually suspended. The government had previously said no safety or efficacy issues had been identified and the suspension was a precautionary measure. The cause of the deaths of the two people was still being investigated. "I don't think foreign contamination is likely to be the direct cause of sudden death," said Takahiro Kinoshita, a doctor and vice chairman of Cov-Navi, a vaccine information group. people will experience some symptoms after vaccination ... However, further investigation is certainly needed to evaluate the dangers of the particular dose in question."

Japan earlier suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna which was delivered to 863 vaccination centers across the country after local distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical, received reports of contamination in several bottles of the vaccine. About 500,000 people received vaccine shots from those supplies, said Taro Kono, the minister in charge of accelerating vaccinations. Moderna and Spanish pharmaceutical company Rovi, which packages Moderna's vaccine in countries other than the United States, said the contamination could be caused by production problems in one of the countries. one Rovi factory. Takeda said on Monday, August 30 the investigation was still ongoing. Rovi shares plunged more than 20 percent in morning trading. The affected vaccine in Gunma came from a different Moderna lot than had previously been suspended, Gunma officials said. Vaccines from the same lot have been injected into 4,575 people in Gunma, but the prefecture has not received any reports of health problems, the official said. Vaccine contamination is "a serious problem" and needs to be investigated, but given the rising COVID-19 cases, administering the vaccine Moderna should "continue with appropriate precautions", said Nicholas Rennick, an Australian doctor practicing at the NTT Health Center in Tokyo. Severe COVID-19 cases are at their highest level in Japan. The situation left many people hospitalized due to the lack of emergency treatment beds in hospitals. The number of people who have been fully vaccinated in the country is only 44 percent of the population, lagging behind a number of other developed countries. Japan is exploring the possibility of mixing AstraZeneca vaccine injections with vaccines from other manufacturers to speed up vaccination. "We have thousands of Delta variant patients across Japan right now who are spreading the virus, and so many residents who have not been vaccinated or protected," Rennick said.