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Moderna’s contaminated Covid vaccine may have led to third death in Japan

WION Web Team
TokyoUpdated: Sep 07, 2021, 08:51 PM IST

A file photo of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

After getting a shot from one of three batches of Moderna vaccines identified as contaminated, a third man has died in Japan. Authorities say no causal link has yet been found. After having his second shot on August 11, the 49-year-old man died the following day. The only known health issue of the man was an allergy to buckwheat

After getting a shot from one of three batches of Moderna vaccines identified as contaminated, a third man has died in Japan. Authorities say no causal link has yet been found.  

After having his second shot on August 11, the 49-year-old man died the following day. The only known health issue of the man was an allergy to buckwheat, said the health ministry on Monday.   

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According to the ministry, it is yet to establish if the latest fatality was linked to the vaccine as it had said in the previous two deaths.  

The three batches, which were manufactured under contract by Moderna in Spain, were found to have fragments of stainless steel. It had forced the recall of 1.63 million doses of the Moderna vaccine on August 26.  

The shot, which the man had, came from the same batches. The company is yet to comment on the most recent fatality.

Last week, it issued a joint statement with local distributor Takeda Pharmaceutical, saying, “The rare presence of stainless steel particles in the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine does not pose an undue risk to patient safety and it does not adversely affect the benefit/risk profile of the product.”  

Last month, two men, who were in their 30s with no underlying health conditions, had died within days of getting their second dose of the Moderna vaccine.