Japan Reports Second Case Of Foreign Substances In COVID-19 Vaccines - Reports

Several vaccination centers in Japan have reported detecting foreign substances in their Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, following another recent case when contaminated vials were found in a batch of Moderna shots, Kyodo said on Tuesday

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) Several vaccination centers in Japan have reported detecting foreign substances in their Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, following another recent case when contaminated vials were found in a batch of Moderna shots, Kyodo said on Tuesday.

White floating matter was found in five unused Pfizer vials in vaccination centers in the cities of Sagamihara and Kamakura in Kanagawa prefecture, and Sakai in Osaka prefecture, according to the news. The contaminated vials reportedly belonged to the same lot, FF5357.

Local authorities said they did not use the doses containing foreign substances, but continued administering remaining vaccines from the same batch after they had been proved clean, Kyodo said.

This is the second time Japan has reported finding foreign substances in COVID-19 vaccines distributed in the country. In late August, three batches of about 1.63 million doses of the Moderna vaccine were put on hold after a pharmacist identified black particles in some of the vials.

The substance was later identified as metallic powder. Other contaminated vials contained residue of rubber caps from the incorrect injection of syringes.

By the time the contaminated Moderna vaccines were withdrawn, they had already been distributed to 889 vaccination centers and 55 of them had been used.

Moderna and a Spanish pharmaceutical company, responsible for bottling Moderna vaccines, claimed the incident could have been caused by manufacturing issues. European safety regulators launched an investigation into the case.

Japan's vaccination campaign began on February 17. Currently, the country has approved the use of three vaccines belonging to Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna. Japan has reported having fully vaccinated over half of its population as of the first week of September, amounting to 65.2 million people.