Making headlines frequently of late, Moderna suddenly reversed its request for an emergency fourth shot. Now the company is in the news again, but this time because of a European recall of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Possible Safety Issues

Moderna issued a call back of over 750,000 doses of its vaccine mRNA-1273 (Spikevax) made by its contract manufacturer Rovi after contamination was found in one vial of the serum. Rovi is based in Spain. The Cambridge, Massachusetts -based mRNA-focused biotech company declared no safety issues have been identified, but the specific lot containing the contamination were distributed in January to Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

Company Releases Statement

In a press release to investors, Moderna emphasized it issued the recall over an “abundance of caution,” and that “Moderna and Rovi remain committed to working transparently and expeditiously with regulators to address any potential concerns.” According to the release, over 900 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been distributed worldwide, and the company doesn’t believe the contaminated vial poses a risk to “other vials in the lot and does not believe this affects the significant benefit/risk of the vaccine.” The company is communicating with health authorities in the investigation of the contamination. According to Moderna, no safety issues have been identified.

Previous Issues

In 2021, both Denmark and Sweden paused their use of the Moderna vaccine in children after reports of side effects like myocarditis. Later, Finland and Norway joined the pause, while Iceland suspended the use of the vaccine. Japan also had contamination issues with Moderna in 2021 when two men died after receiving shots of the tainted doses. Japanese authorities suspended 1.63 million doses of the vaccine. The contaminated doses in Japan were also traced back the Rovi. Stainless steel contaminants were found in the tainted vials.