The Okinawa prefectural government has halted the use of Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation site where a foreign substance was detected in a vial of the vaccine.
The prefecture said Saturday that the production number on the vial differed from the vials whose use was suspended Thursday by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry following similar discoveries.
According to the prefectural government, a black foreign substance was found in one vial and in two syringes filled with the vaccine during a visual check before their use at the Okinawa Prefectural Budokan in Naha, where vaccinations started at 3 p.m. Saturday.
For this reason, vaccinations were halted at 6:20 p.m. After inoculations were stopped, a pink foreign material was also detected in another syringe.
During the more than three hours until inoculations were suspended, 415 people were vaccinated, but the prefectural government said there was no foreign substance in the vials and syringes used for those shots. The prefecture said it had not received any reports from vaccine recipients about health problems.
The Okinawa prefectural government canceled vaccinations at the Budokan scheduled for Sunday, and said it would decide on a course of action after discussing the matter with the ministry.
A foreign material believed to be a metallic substance was previously found in vials of the Moderna vaccine at inoculation venues in Tokyo and four prefectures. On Thursday, the government instructed vaccination sites to halt the use of vials with the same production number, which were produced in a factory in Spain.
It also called for vials with two different production numbers that were manufactured at the factory under the same production process not to be used.
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