The previously unknown substance, which has caused three batches of Moderna vaccine to be suspended in Japan, turned out to be stainless steel.
Japan has suspended vaccinations with the American drug Moderna due to impurities identified in August. By that time, about half a million people could have received the contaminated vaccine, two of whom died shortly after vaccination. It turned out that there were stainless steel particles in the vaccine. Correspondent.net tells the details.
No increased medical risk
On August 26, Japanese authorities discovered several dozen doses of Moderna at eight vaccination centers in the prefectures of Aichi, Gifu, Ibaraki, Saitama and Tokyo, particles of certain impurities, several millimeters in size. A few days later, the incident was repeated.
By that time, up to half a million people could receive injections of the vaccine of the American company from this batch. Two of them died shortly after being vaccinated, but the link between their deaths and vaccinations has not been established, but an official investigation is ongoing.
All the vials with impurities were produced in Spain in about the same time period and delivered to Japan at the end of July. The country’s health ministry has therefore decided to suspend the use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna vaccines as a precautionary measure.
On September 1, Moderna and the Japanese company Takeda, which is distributing the vaccine in Japan, released a joint statement explaining these impurities and why they were introduced.
It turned out that the unknown substance is stainless steel. The statement notes that the material is used in heart valves, artificial joints, metal sutures, and staples.
Metal particles of this size injected into the muscle “can cause a local reaction, but it is unlikely that this will lead to other side effects outside the injection site,” the report said.
“In this regard, the injection of particles identified in shipments in Japan is not expected to result in an increased medical risk,” the companies quoted Reuters as saying.
The statement also said that there is no evidence that the two deaths following the introduction of the vaccine from one of the batches were associated with the introduction of the vaccine.
“This is currently considered an accident. It is important to complete an official investigation to confirm this,” the pharmaceutical company said.
Takeda believes the particles got into the vaccine as a result of friction caused by pieces of metal in the equipment that corks the vials. Iron has only been found in recalled batches of the vaccine, and the Spanish company Rovi, which manufactures and packs the drug, has already taken action.
Twice as many antibodies
On the eve of the authoritative Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) were published data from a study by Belgian scientists, which revealed that after the administration of two doses of Moderna vaccine to those who had not been ill with COVID-19 before, the level of antibodies in the blood was more than twice the level of antibodies in those vaccinated by Pfizer-BioNTech.
The authors of the study studied the level of antibodies in almost 2.5 thousand workers in Belgian hospitals after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Before vaccination, these people were not infected with the coronavirus.
The study showed that the group of workers who received two doses of Moderna vaccine had an average of 2881 blood antibody levels. Those who received two doses of Pfizer had an average antibody level of 1108. Both groups had the highest antibody levels in both groups. people under the age of 35.
Scientists point out that these results may be due to two factors. For example, the Moderna vaccine has a higher content of active ingredient – 100 mcg versus 30 mcg for the Pfizer vaccine. In addition, Moderna has a four-week interval between dosing and three weeks for Pfizer.
Note that antibodies are only one of the important components of the immune response along with the cellular one. The authors did not test how differences in titers affect the effectiveness of protection, and also did not test the levels of antibodies specifically neutralizing the virus – only total (i.e., neutralizing + binding).
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