Japan Finds Black Particles In Moderna Vaccine

A batch of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine has been placed on hold in Japan after black particles were discovered in a vial.

A Japanese pharmacist saw several black particles in one vial of the vaccine in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to the country's health authorities and even though some 3,790 people had already received shots from the batch the rest of the batch has now been put on hold.

The pharmacist found the black particles while checking for foreign substances before the vaccine's use.

The jab's domestic distributor has collected the vial suspected to be contaminated.

The news comes less than a week after Japan suspended the use of about 1.63 million Moderna doses due to contamination.

Takeda Pharmaceutical, who distributes the vaccine in Japan, had just last week put three batches of the vaccine on hold after "foreign materials" were found in some doses of a batch of roughly 560,000 vials.

Spanish pharmaceutical firm Rovi, who bottles the vaccine, said in a statement that a manufacturing chIn in Spain could be the cause of the issue and that an investigation was underway

On Tuesday, August 31, Japan's health minister claimed foreign matter found in the vaccine in the southern prefecture of Okinawa were due to needles being incorrectly inserted into vials.

In Japan just 40% of citizens have been fully vaccinated.