Japan suspended use of about 1.63 million doses of Moderna vaccine Thursday after contamination was found in unused vials, raising concern of a supply shortage as the country tries to accelerate vaccinations amid a COVID-19 surge. The health ministry said contamination was reported from multiple vaccination sites. Some doses might have been administered, but no adverse health effects have been reported so far, officials said. Read: Japan to further expand virus emergency areas as cases surge Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese drugmaker in charge of sales and distribution of the vaccine in Japan, said it decided to suspend use of doses manufactured in the same production line as a safety precaution. It asked Moderna to conduct an emergency investigation and told medical institutions and organizers to stop using the vaccine produced in Spain and shared the production numbers that may be affected. The health ministry and Takeda did not give details on the type of contamination or if the doses in question may have been distributed outside Japan. Read:Japan to widen virus emergency after record spike amid Games The Moderna vaccine problem came just as Japan struggles with surging infections, with daily new cases hitting new highs in many parts of the country and severely straining the health care system. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters the government and Takeda are discussing ways to minimize the impact on Japan’s vaccination progress. “We will do utmost in order to avoid any impact on vaccination progress, especially at worksites and large-scale centers,” Kato said. Read:Tropical storm to bring rain, wind, waves to northeast Japan Japan relies entirely on foreign-developed vaccines by Moderna, as well as Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca. Moderna has been since mid-June at large-scale centers and workplace inoculations and has helped speed up Japan’s rollout. About 43% of the Japanese population have been fully vaccinated, with daily doses of about 1 million.

Mass inoculation for Covid-19 will restart from Monday (July 12) with Chinese vaccine Sinopharm in district and upazila hospitals and from Tuesday (July 13) with COVAX’s Modera jabs in municipal hospitals, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Sunday. Line director of the vaccine deployment committee, Professor Dr Shamsul Haque announced the news during the regular Covid-19 bulletin of the DGHS. By Sunday Moderna doses will reach vaccine centres across the country, while Sinopharm doses were sent Saturday to all the municipal centres, he said. Also read: Massive vaccination to begin in July: PM The additional stock has been ensured for sending to districts and upazilas, said Dr Shamsul Haque, mentioning that all the preparation for mass inoculation has been completed. As from Monday and the next day, people across the country will start getting shots again, it can be said that mass inoculation for Covi-19 resumed, he added. Dr Haque said the 1 lakh doses of Pfizer vaccine so far received will be administered at the seven hospitals of Dhaka and after that Moderna vaccine doses will be administered in these hospitals. Also read: Registration for Covid vaccination to restart Thursday In the other 40 Covid-19 vaccination centres of the city, Sinopharm vaccine shots will be administered till Monday and after that Moderna shots will be administered in those hospitals, he added. Soon a decision will be taken on the urgent vaccination needs of the students who want to go abroad for study as a conversation with the Prime Minister is ongoing, said the line director of the vaccine deployment committee. Until now expatriate workers were being vaccinated in seven centres of Dhaka, but from Monday they will be able to receive the shots from any medical college of the country, said Dr Shamsul.

Some 184,000 doses of Moderna and Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines reached Chattogram on Sunday as the government is set to accelerate the inoculation drive amid the worsening corona situation. Among the shots, 105,600 doses of Moderna MRNA developed by the USA, while the rest 78,400 are of Sinopharm developed by China, said a PID handout. It is expected that the vaccination drive in Chattogram will begin on Tuesday (July 13). Also read: Bangladesh to receive 60 lakh more Pfizer vaccine doses in Aug: Minister The Moderna vaccine doses will be given in nine centres of the city, while that of Sinopharm at the upazila level. The people, aged above 35, would be able to receive the vaccines on completion of the registration process. Civil Surgeon of Chattogram Dr Sheikh Fazle Rabbi received the vaccines of Moderna and Sinopharm, carried by freezer vans of Beximco Pharmaceutical. Earlier, more than 8.5 lakh shots of Covid vaccines --762,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 91,200 doses of Sinopharm vaccine-- were sent to Chattogram. Also read: Bangladesh hopeful of receiving 3.5 mln vaccine doses from COVAX this month: FM On January 31 last, some 456,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reached Chattogram in the first phase, while 306,000 doses of the same vaccines on April 09 in the second phase. Later, some 91,200 shoots of Sinopharm vaccine reached the port city on June 18 last. The Covid vaccination first began in Chattogram on February 7 last.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said Bangladesh is hopeful of receiving more vaccine doses this month from Japan, the European Union (EU) and the USA under COVAX facility apart from a steady flow of that from China. “We’re in a good position now. I should say we’ve made a line up. I think there’ll be no vaccine crisis, and the vaccination programme will continue uninterruptedly,” he told a small group of reporters at his residence. Dr Momen said Bangladesh is expected to get around 2.5 million doses of vaccine from Japan while 1 million from the EU under the COVAX facility. “These’re likely to be AstraZeneca vaccine doses.” The Foreign Minister said he talked to the Japanese Foreign Minister recently and Bangladesh mentioned about Japan’s vaccine supply to others. Dr Momen said Japan will provide vaccine doses to Bangladesh, too but the exact quantity was not mentioned. But a big quantity of vaccine doses is expected to arrive this week or next week under the COVAX facility. “We expect it’ll be around 2.5 million doses.” Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh recently got 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine doses from the USA under the COVAX facility. “US informed us that there’ll be more.” He said the government has planned to bring vaccine doses from Sinopharm over the next three months as per the plan, and the first consignment of 2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine has already arrived. Read:Chinese firms working with Bangladeshi partners for vaccine co-production

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday night received the first consignment of 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine under the COVAX framework. Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Secretary of Health Services Division Lokman Hossain Miah, and other high officials of the Bangladesh government were also present.   The second consignment will reach Dhaka on Saturday morning. Also read: Bangladesh to receive 45 lakh vaccine doses from COVAX, China within 2 days: Minister These 2.5 million vaccine doses are part of the US government's recent allocation of 25 million vaccine doses for countries in Asia through COVAX.

Seeking fast-track approvals to bring Moderna’s single-dose Covid-19 booster vaccine in India expeditiously, Cipla has requested the government for indemnification and exemptions from price capping, bridging trials and basic customs duty, while stating that it is close to committing over ₹1 billion as advance to the US major, sources said on Monday, reports Hindustan Times. Commending the government for its efforts to increase the vaccine availability in the country for achieving effective protection against Covid-19, the Indian pharma giant has said its discussions with Moderna on the Covid-19 booster vaccine are nearing finalisation and for that, they are seeking the “partnership and support of the government to make this programme successful”. Requesting the government to provide confirmation on four critical points --- exemption from price restriction, indemnification, bridging trial waiver and basic customs duty exemption, Cipla has said such an assurance will help make this significant financial commitment of more than USD 1 billion (over ₹7,250 crore) advance to Moderna for its booster vaccine in India, sources privy to the development said. Cipla’s latest communication to the government, dated May 29, follows a high-level meeting held recently during which it was discussed that Moderna has proposed to launch a single-dose vaccine for the Indian market, for which, they were in discussion with Cipla and other Indian companies. It was also discussed in that meeting that orders for supply of the vaccine in 2022 may be placed with Moderna expeditiously and that Cipla has evinced interest to procure 50 million doses from Moderna for 2022. It was also suggested that Cipla may be asked to submit their specific requests to the government on their request for a “confirmation from the Government of India in respect of stability in regulatory requirements/policy regime” and a decision on that can be taken thereafter expeditiously. Taking the matter forward, Cipla has now written to the government, “It is imperative Cipla brings Moderna booster vaccines to India urgently, having immediately made available the largest portfolio of Covid-19 drugs amongst Indian pharmaceutical companies, including the state-of-the-art antibody cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab.” Stating that Moderna’s vaccine has been rated at the highest efficacy with least side effects, Cipla has told the government that it needs assurance to include Moderna booster vaccine under the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy, announced in April and made effective from May 1.

Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot – not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.

The European Union lashed out Monday at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, accusing it of failing to guarantee delivery of coronavirus vaccines without valid explanation, and threatened to impose tight export controls within days on COVID-19 vaccines made in the bloc.

The European Union’s medicines agency was meeting Wednesday to consider giving the green light to Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine, a decision that would give the 27-nation bloc a second vaccine to use in the desperate battle to tame the virus rampaging across the continent.

The U.S. added a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday, boosting efforts to beat back an outbreak so dire that the nation is regularly recording more than 3,000 deaths a day.