By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Moderna stock (NASDAQ:MRNA) fell 1.3% Tuesday on news that a third man died in Japan a day after taking the company’s Covid vaccine.
The 49-year-old man received his second dose of the vaccine on 11 August. It came from one of the three batches since identified as contaminated.
Japan’s health ministry said it was yet to establish if the fatality was linked to the vaccine. Last week, Moderna said “The rare presence of stainless steel particles in the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine does not pose an undue risk to patient safety and it does not adversely affect the benefit/risk profile of the product." Moderna made the joint statement with local distributor Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK).
Almost two weeks ago, the discovery of fragments of stainless steel in the batches led to the suspension of as many as 2.6 million doses of the company's 'messenger RNA'-based vaccine in Japan. The world’s third largest economy is battling its worst wave of the pandemic.
Two men in their 30s with no known health conditions died last month within days of their second dose of the Moderna vaccine. In the case of the latest death, the person was known to be allergic to buckwheat, the health ministry said Monday.