Japan is investigating the deaths of two people who were given Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 shots from vaccine batches which have since been suspended.

While the relationship between the deaths and the shots is currently unclear, the health ministry will swiftly conduct the investigations together with external experts, health minister Norihisa Tamura said during an NHK program on Sunday.

"(The) investigation is still ongoing, but we will quickly disclose what we find out," Tamura said. "We would like the experts to examine under what circumstances the deaths occurred, and whether there were any causal relations" with the vaccine, he said.