FDA says Moderna can fill its vials with 40% more COVID-19 vaccine to increase the number of doses in each from 10 to 14 and reduce production bottlenecks
- FDA regulators told Moderna it could fill its bottles with 40% more vaccine Friday
- It comes after Moderna asked regulators to allow more overfilling to reduce production bottlenecks caused by only limited vials being filled at a time
- Vials previously contained 10 doses, but now contain up to 14
- Pfizer got FDA clearance to label its vials for six doses instead of five vaccine recipients discovering an additional dose of overfill
- More doses in Moderna’s vials could increase supply in the US by about 20%
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow Moderna to fill vials with 40 percent more coronavirus vaccine, according to the New York Times.
People who knew the company told the outlet that FDA regulators have told Moderna it can fill its bottles with up to 14 doses instead of 10 on Friday.
It’s a shift Moderna called for last month, in an effort to reduce production bottlenecks.
“In addition to the amount of drug available, a possible capacity limitation is the number of bottles that can be filled in a given period,” a regular spokesman told the Times earlier.
Moderna’s vaccine doses account for just over half of the US supply, meaning the green light to fill bottles with additional doses could increase the amount of vaccine available by about 20 percent.
The FDA told Moderna on Friday that it will allow the firm to fill its vials of coronavirus vaccine with 14 instead of 10 doses, according to the New York Times. The change can occur within two or three weeks
Moderna will have to show, however, that the overfill technique will not hinder the quality of the recording, according to the Times.
Glass shortages have not yet been raised as an immediate concern for Moderna or Pfizer, but even before the vaccines were approved, experts warned the world was already dealing with a vast supply.
Putting more vaccine in each vial can also alleviate this problem in the supply chain.
The US also took advantage of its options to buy an additional 100 million doses of vaccine from both Moderna and Pfizer on Thursday, bringing the national total to 600 million.
That’s a critical milestone because it’s enough to vaccinate almost every American with two doses.
But it puts a huge output on the two companies, which also have contacts with other countries.
For example, Pfizer ran into supply chain issues in December and had to halve its global distribution commitment by the end of 2020.
With FDA approval to label its vials for six doses, instead of five, due to overfilling, Pfizer was able to achieve its goal of delivering 100 million doses to the US by the end of the year – barely.
Now, Pfizer says it is ahead of schedule to provide 200 million doses to the US by May, in place of its original June target date.
Moderna has said it is still on track to deliver 200 million doses by June.
But every company is working at full speed to meet the unprecedented demand for vaccines.
So any creative solutions that make it easier for Moderna and Pfizer to make more vaccines faster are welcome.
And switching to 14 doses can be done quickly, as the vial size does not need to be adjusted.
In a statement shared with the Times, Moderna said it thought it could make the change within two to three weeks.
