SHOT DOWN

Japan Pulls 1.6 Million Doses of ‘Contaminated’ Moderna Vax

The contamination was discovered at multiple sites as Japan struggles to get a handle on a new wave of the pandemic.

Japanese drug company Takeda Pharmaceutical has reportedly suspended around 1.63 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after finding evidence of contamination at multiple vaccination sites. The unspecified contamination was found in unused vials of the jab, but authorities do not rule out that some people might have been given the dodgy jabs. The suspension comes as Japan struggles to control another wave of the pandemic. Takeda has asked Moderna to carry out an emergency investigation on doses produced in Spain thought to be those contaminated. Japan does not produce any of its own vaccines and relies on imports of Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and Moderna. Around 43 percent of the Japanese population have been fully inoculated against the virus.