The Food and Drug Administration agreed on Friday to allow pharmaceutical manufacturer Moderna to increase the formula of the coronavirus vaccine in each of its vials by up to 40%, according to The New York Times.
Sources told the Times that the move would allow the company to include up to 14 doses in each vial of the vaccine instead of the current 10 doses, increasing the country’s overall vaccine supply by about 20%.
“ It would be a big step forward, ” Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the scientific leader of the Trump administration’s program to develop a vaccine, told the Times. “ I think it will have an impact in the short term. ”
A company spokesman declined to comment in the paper on the talks with regulators.
Earlier this week, the Biden government announced a deal to buy 100 million additional doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has provided 41 million doses to the government to date.
“We appreciate the confidence the US government has shown in our COVID-19 vaccine,” said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel in a press release. “We will continue to expand our production capacity both within and outside the United States. Our goal is to get our vaccine to as many people around the world as possible to end this pandemic. It’s encouraging and humbling to know that more than 22 million Americans are already protected with Moderna’s vaccine. ”
© 2021 Newsmax. All rights reserved.