Moderna Inc

Japan's Kanagawa prefecture said it has found another vial of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine suspected of containing a foreign substance and has put the rest of the lot on hold.

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In a statement on Aug. 31, prefectural authorities said a pharmacist found several black particles in one vial upon checking for foreign substances before the vaccine's use.

A contaminant found in a batch of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccines delivered to Japan is believed to be a metallic particle, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, citing sources at the health ministry.

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Russia's sovereign wealth fund RDIF has filed for registration of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in the European Union and expects it to be reviewed in February, as Moscow seeks to speed up its availability worldwide.

The Vatican told Roman Catholics on Monday that it was morally acceptable to use COVID-19 vaccines even if their production employed cell lines drawn from tissues of aborted foetuses.

A note from the Vatican's doctrinal congregation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the use of such vaccines was permitted as long as there were no alternatives.

Former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton said they were willing to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on television in order to ease any public skepticism over the safety of new vaccines.

Britain on Dec. 2 became the first country to approve Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for general use and said it would be introduced next week.    

Moderna Inc will apply for US and European emergency authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine on Monday after full results from a late-stage study showed it was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns, the company said.