COVID Vax Contaminated with ‘Foreign Material’ that ‘Reacts to Magnets’: Japanese Health Ministry

1.6 million Moderna jabs halted after metallic contaminants were discovered in vials.

QUICK FACTS:
  • The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced on Aug 26 that it had found “Black substances…in syringes and a vial, with pink substances found in another syringe” within a lot of Moderna Inc.’s experimental mRNA vaccine, Reuters reports.
  • Two men in their 30’s “with no pre-existing illnesses” died after receiving Moderna shots that were among lots that were suspended.
  • The men developed fevers shortly after receiving their second doses early this month and died within days.
  • A ministry official said that “[i]t’s a substance that reacts to magnets” and that “it could be metal.”
  • Multiple vaccination centers have reported that vaccine vials contained foreign matter.
  • The three suspended vaccine batches altogether contain 1.63 million vaccine doses, which have been distributed to 863 vaccination centers across the country.
  • The latest reports of vaccine contamination came from Gunma prefecture near Tokyo and the southern prefecture of Okinawa.
  • Nicholas Rennick, an Australian doctor practicing at the NTT Medical Centre in Tokyo, said the contamination “is a serious problem” and that there is need for an investigation.
  • Reuters would later report that the contaminant was “stainless steel.”
  • About 500,000 people received shots from the tainted Moderna batches, said Taro Kono, Japan’s minister in charge of the vaccination campaign.
WHAT MODERNA SAID:
  • A Moderna spokesperson said, “Moderna confirms having been notified of cases of particulate matter being seen in drug product vials of its COVID-19 vaccine.”
  • “The company is investigating the reports and remains committed to working transparently and expeditiously with its partner, Takeda, and regulators to address any potential concerns,” they added, also noting that the pharmaceutical company thinks a “manufacturing issue” at a plant in Spain is to blame.
  • Moderna said the stainless steel contamination probably occurred during production, probably “related to friction between two pieces of metal in the machinery that puts stoppers on the vials,” according to the later Reuters article.

Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith and author of “An American Revival: Why American Christianity Is Failing & How to Fix It.

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